27G THE SPECIES OP MTRISTICA
timn Iho female«; and a, a fad the latter are usually very scaulily represented in
most col echons. lu the flowers of both sezes the periauth is siugle, eoriaceoas, moro
or less globose or uroeokte or tubular; usually S-toothed, but in some spooies 2- or eren
4-toothed; the Kst.vahou of the teeth being a l^ys Talvate. The anthers, ,vhioh are in
shape 61 her oTOte or Imear, have two parallel oells, and they aro invariably oolleoted on
a central oolnmn, which may be stalked or sessile, and to which thev are attached in
one of two ways. In the majority of the species the column is cyiindric or angled.
It may be not much longer than broad, or it may bo much elongated; hut the
anthers are always attached to it by their backs, through their connectives, tho edc-es
and, sometmaes, the apices of the anther-cells being free. In some species tho anthers
are also united to each other, as well as to the column. In the section X «
however, the column is cyiindric below; but at its apex it expands into a flat
concave or slightly eouvej, orbicular (or somewhat S.oornored) disc, to the ed^es of
whicli disc the anthers are attached by their bases, either directly or by the intervention
of short filaments. In some species the connective of each anther is prolonged at tho
apei mto a short, free point ; in others the projecting connectives of ail tho anthers
ol a flower are conjoined into a single conical appendage; while, in a thh-d set the
counective is not prolonged at all. In all cases the dehiscence of the anther.ce'lls is
longitudinal, and it is invariably eitrorse, i.e., tho pollen escapes outwards or (in many
of the Knmai) dowuwatds. In number, the anthers of the Asiatic species vary from
SIS to eighteen; but in one species {M. Mvalm,) they number thii-ty, and in another
(J/. Ourhm) forty.fivo. Many of the South American species have, however, only three
anthers, and these alternate with the lobes of the perianth. As will be understood
from the preceding account of the anthers, there is considerable diversity in their
arrangement. And these differences, together with the natm-e of the inflorescence in
which the male flowers are disposed, and tho presence or absence of braeteoles, have
been taken as characters for the division of the genus into groups or sections
The female flowers are, in all the species known to me, fewer in number and
larger m size than the males. As a rule they present less variety than the males.
I Iio perianth IS more inflated than that of the malo; it is sometimes oampanulate
with a constricted mouth; it is also thicker in texture, and has shorter teeth than that
flL? ""S' '^'"»•"»d» in a female
flower The ovary is single, usually sessile, more or less ovoid; it is invariably
one-ce led with a single, basal, anatropous ovule. Tho style is either very si J
or quite absent, and the stigma is flattish and slightly divided or lobed. Tho ripe fruit
has a pericarp which often tends to spht up. when ripe, into two valves; it is
often succuleut and brightly coloured. The solitary seed L invariably covercJ, I r
or less completely, by a usuafly laciuiate, but sometimes entire, biditly coloured,
fleshy or membranous, often aromatic, arillus. The exact nature of i i s arillus has
been much discussed; some observers regarding it as an ar.llus proper, proceeding from
the funiculns at or jnst below the hilum; others, as an ariliode originating around
the micropyle; while a third set believe it to originate from both hilum and
micnipyle. As in the seeds of the hilnm and micropyle are approximated,
the tiiird view is probably the right one. Tho testa of the seed is smooth and hardthe
albumen cop.ons ruminate, and often aromatic. Tiio embryo is small, basilar and
straight; he CO yiedons bemg suh-foliaceous, divaricate, and flat or rugulose-plaited.
The radicle is short, cyiindric, and inferior. pioiiea.
OP BBITISH ISDIA. srr
Tho genus Mijrùika was founded by Linnssus in the second edition of bis
Gmm FhnUrum, published in 1742, the single species known to him being the
Kntmeg of commerce. The genus was omitted in tho third edition ; but the Nutmeg
reappeared in the younger Linnaius's supplement as a newly-described species.
Giertner, in his Treatise De Fruelibui et SeminOut Flmtarum (published in 1788),
described and flgnred, from material whicli he probably obtained from Ceylon, the
common Nutmeg and three species besides, viz., M. dactyhidei, M. Inja, and M. Iryashedu.
Giertner's M. Irga, readily identiflod by its almost perfectly globular seeds,
stands as a species to tho present day. His M. Iryagiedhi I believe to be M. Borefeldii,
Bl. ; and his M. d^lyhiie, (and in this I am at one with Dr. Trimen, r.n.s.,
the present Director of the Peradeniya Botanic Garden) to be M. lawifoKa, H. f.
& Th. The next writer who added much to our knowledge of the Asiatic species
was Blame, who, in his Bijdmgeu (published in 1825), gave an account of seven
species, in addition to the common Nutmeg. In the first volume of his MumpMa
(published in 1835), the same author added five moro novelties, and also re-doscribed four
previously known species. In their Fbra Indica (published in 1855), Drs. J. D. Hooker
and T. Thomson made the next great addition to our knowledge of Asiatic Nutmegs. In
that admirable fragment, twenty-three species of Mamtiea were described, of which
a very large proportion were quite new. A little later (1856-57) there appeared
(in his Frodromm) M. Alph. DeCandolle's excellent monograiih of the whole order.
Of the eighty-one species therehr described, one is African; twenty-eight (viz., the
entire sections Virola, Syehonmm, Otoha, Omipsonewra and Iryunihera) are South American ;
one is Australian ; five are Polynesian ; one is doubtful, and forty-flve are Asiatic.
Miquel contributed largely to the literature of the genus. In 1859 appeared the first
volume of his Flora of Netherlands Indiar, in which he describes fifty-eight species (of
which, however, three are non-Asiatic), and of these nine are new. In his Supplement
for Sumatra (1860), the same author contributed five additional species from that
island. And in his Annali of the lAden Hei-harium {Ann. Mm. Zugd. Bat, vol. I,
205, 1863-6-1; and vol. II, 46, 1865-66) he adds eleven new species from Malayan
countries. These bring the number of Asiatic species recognized by Miquel up to
sixty-nine—a number which, from Miquel's inveterate habit of founding new species on
imperfect materials, is doubtless capable of considerable reduction. In vol. I l l of
their Genera Flantarum (1880), the late Mr. Bentham and Sir Joseph Hooker estimate
the total number of species at about eighty, of which about fifty are Asiatic. Sir
Joseph Hooker's Flora of British India contains the most recent account of the Indian
species, and in that work thirty-two species (30 in the text and 2 in the appendix)
are described; while several more are alluded to, but (for want of full material) are
not named. The activity which has characterised the work of botanical collecting
within the sphere of influence of the Calcutta Botanic Garden during the past few
3-ears, brought to the Calcutta Hei'bariuin specimens of several species which I believed
to be new. And the desirability of describing these, joined to the diflicnlty which
all who are not botanical experts have in distinguishing any species of Mpristiea,
suggested the idea of publishing figures, accompanied by descriptions, of all the
British Indian species known at the present date. It was at Sir Joseph Hooker's
suggestion that I undertook the present memoir, and during its elaboration I have had
the benefit of his most kind and invaluable advice and enccuragement. To prevent
misunderstanding, I may explain that, by the phi-ase British India, I understand
;!: I