Nutmeg
Scientific Name :
Myristica fragrans Houtt.
Synonym(s) :
Myristica aromatica Lam.
Local/Common name(s) :
Jathi, Nutmeg
Family :
Myristicaceae
Habit :
Tree
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
December-August
Habitat :
Cultivated
Endemic :
No
Status (IUCN) :
Distribution :
Native of East Moluccas
Nativity :
Exotic
Uses :
Medicine, food
Description (Morphology) :
Evergreen dioecious trees, to 8 m high; bark black; branches horizontal. Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; petiole 9-15 mm long, slender, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 9-18 x 2.5-6 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, elliptic-oblanceolate or elliptic-obovate, base acute or attenuate, margin entire, glabrous, shiny above and glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 10-14 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate. Flowers unisexual, yellow; male flowers: 3-5 in axillary cymes, urceolate; pedicels drooping; bracts deciduous; bracteoles persistent; peranth 3-lobed, tawny villous; stamens 9-12, connate in to a central stipitate coloum; female flowers: urceolate, larger than the male, few in axillary cymes; pedicels drooping; bracts deciduous; bracteoles persistent; perianth 3-lobed, tawny villous; ovary superior, ovoid, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; stigmas connate, 2-lobed. Fruit a capsule, yellow to 5 cm long; aril red, lacinate; seed brown.