THE NUTMEG TREE.

801

O’ bark is the produce of Cirmamomum Sintoc , Blurae. Its properties are analo-■j.| * H those of Culitlawan. I have never met with it in London .

B| folia Malubathri of India are obtained from Cinnamomum nitidum, Hooker, andUhi > and from C. Tamala. They are aromatic tonics, but are not found in the

>' "^'het.

Mf.^fofrus nuts are the seeds of some Lauraceous plant. “ They were imported fromtor,iJ?" ‘ llto Stockholm in the middle of the last century, and were found a valuables uL and astringent medicine: during the continental war they were used as a badWon*® for nutmegs.” They are still to be found in some of the old drug houses of

Oiidf.r 29. Myristica'cf..e, Lindley . —The Nutmeg Tribe.

MykistiCe.k, R. Brown.

ty- i T, ai - Character. — Flowers completely unisexual. Calyx trifid, rarely quadrifid ;ill ' Va bular aestivation. Males:—Filaments either separate, or completely unitedI,,,! 4 cylinder. Anthers three to twelve, two-celled, turned outwards, and burstingsi, ^'hidinally ; either connate or distinct. Female:—Calyx deciduous. Ovary

l«b | l0r ’ ses s'le, with a single erect ovule; style very short; stigma somewhatPart"*] Fruit, baccate, dehiscent, two-valved. Seed nut.like, enveloped in a many-foli ar d ; albumen ruminate, between fatty and fleshy ; embryo small; cotyledonsreipCcus; radicle inferior; plumule conspicuous.— Tropical trees, often yielding aC(iri^ UlCe - Leaves alternate, without stipules, not dotted, quite entire, stalked,ten ace<l,ls ; usually, when full-grown, covered beneath with a close down. Injlores-( e axillary or terminal, in racemes, glomerules, or panicles; th e flowers oftentile I "-’ l h one short cucullate bract. Calyx coriaceous, mostly downv outside, withl‘„„ 'airs sometimes stellate, smooth in the inside (Lindley, from R. Brown chiefly).RT tEs.—The bark and pericarp contain an acrid juice. The seed (!) and arillus11( 1 >n an aromatic volatile oil, which is mixed with a fixed oil.

Myris'tica officinalis, Linn. E.— The Nutmeg Tree.

Myristica moschata, Thunberg , L. D.Sex. Syst . Dioecia, Monadelphia.

Pre? °? eum destillatum nuclei, //.—Kernel of the fruit; volatile oil from the kernel; concrete ex-* Se d oil frum the kernel, E .— Nucleus . Oleum volatile et involucrum macis dictum, D.)

Fig. 168 . History. —Both nutmegs and mace were un-

known to the ancient Greeks and Romans; unless,indeed, the Kwyanov of Theophrastus [Hist. Plant.lib. ix. cap. 7),—the cinnamum, quod comacumappellant of Pliny [Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. 63,ed. Valp.), be our nutmeg, as some have suggested.Both mace and nutmegs are noticed by Avicenna (lib. ii. tract, ii. cap. 456 and 503.

Botany. Gen. Char. — Flowers dioecious. Ca-lyx urceolate, tliree-toothed. Males:—Filamentsmonadelplious; anthers six to ten, connate.Females: — Ovary simple; style none; stigmatwo-lobed. Pericarp fleshy, two-valved, one-seeded. Seed enveloped in a fleshy aril. (Lindley.)

Sp. Char. — Leaves oblong, acuminate, smooth,whitish beneath, and with simple nerves. Pe-4 tr ° ne *"° four-flowered.

a* from 20 to 25 feet high, similar in appearance to a pear tree.4f0tll af ar * b rra yish-green, smooth, with a yellowish juice. Leaves''*tk ^ c ‘. Racemes axillary. Peduncles and pedicels glabrous, the latterQuickly deciduous ovate bract at its summit, often pressed close

3 F

A]

ynst ‘ca officinalis.