SPECIES OF MYKISTICA
BRITISH INDIA.
GEOKGE KIXG, M.B., LL.D., F.R.S., C.I.E.,
iii)erlutcnacut of the Rojal Bolauic tinrdeu, Calcuttn.
THE morphology of tlie genus Myristica has been so excellently discussed by the
late Mr. Bentham (1); by Sir J. D. Hooker and the late Dr. T. Thomson (2); by
MM. Alph. DeCandolIe (3) and H. BaUlon (4) ; and by Professor Prantl (5), that it
seems superfluous to enter into an account of it here. But, as the present monograph
of the British Indian species may fall into the hands of Forest Officers whose libraries
are usually very limited, I venture to give a short account of it for their benefit.
All the Nutmegs are either trees or bushes; some of them attaining great size, e.g.,
M. gigmtea and M. magnifica; while a few {e.g., M. fragrans) rarely exceed thirty feet
in height. The loaves are always simple, entire, exstipulate, alternate, feather-nerved,
and very often aromatic—at least wlien bruised—the fragrant principle being in some
species contained in special glands situated within the tissues of the leaf. The flowers
are generally small, and they ai'e invariably unisexual—usually dioecious, biit in one
species at least {M. canarioides) mono3cious. The male flowers are variously arranged
in axillaiy or supra-axillary fascicles, racemes, umbels, panicles, or cymes; and the
inflorescence is often bracteate. The male flowers are produced in much larger numbers
(1) Hooker's Journal of BoUiny for 1853. p. 1.
(2) Flora Indica, by Hooker and Tliomson, vol. I, 1855.
(8) Ann. dcs Scieiicss Natui-elles, Scr. IV, TOI. IV, p. 20.
H) Sisioire des Plantes, II, 498.
(6) Die N<itii>-lick FJlaice-nfamiliex, von Engla- und Franil.
A s s . EOY. BOT. GARD. CALCUTT.\ VOL. III.