Myristica acuminata, Myristica fragrans.

Myristica acuminata Lam. Myristicaceae. Nutmeg.

Madagascar. This species yields nutmegs in Brazil, in the Philippine Islands and in Madagascar.

Myristica fragrans Houtt. Nutmeg.

Moluccas. The nutmeg tree is found wild in Giolo, Ceram, Amboina, Booro, the western peninsula of New Guinea and in many of the adjacent islands. It has been introduced into Benkoelen on the west coast of Sumatra, Malacca, Bengal, Singapore, Penang, Brazil and the West Indies, but it is only in a very few localities that its cultivation has been attended with success. Nutmegs and mace are now brought into the market almost entirely from the Banda Islands, the entire group occupying no more than 17.6 geographical miles. The earliest accounts of the nutmeg are in the writings of the Arabian physicians. They are known to have been at first imported overland into Europe and are mentioned under the name of karua aromatika in the addition to Aetius, also by Symeon Sethus. The fruit is much like a peach, having a longitudinal groove on one side, and bursts into two pieces when the enclosed seed, covered by the false aril or arillode, which constitutes the substance known as mace, is exposed. The seed itself has a thick, hard, outer shell, which may be removed when dry and which encloses the nucleus of the seed, the nutmeg of commerce.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.