Nutmeg and mace ( Book Chapter) - Handbook of Herbs and Spices

Abstract

Nutmeg and mace are two different parts of the same fruit of the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans Houtt. (Myristicaceae). The nutmeg tree is indigenous to the Banda islands in the Moluccas. The species of the genus Myristica are distributed from India and South- East Asia to North Australia and the Pacific Islands. Sinclair (1958) listed a total of 72 species distributed in these areas. The major nutmeg growing areas are Indonesia and Grenada (West Indies). It is also grown on a smaller scale in Sri Lanka, India, China, Malaysia, Western Sumatra, Zanzibar, Mauritius and the Solomon Islands. Nutmeg belongs to a small primitive family Myristicaceae with about 18 genera and 300 species. Myristica is the most primitive genus of the family (Sinclair, 1958). Warming (1890) and Talbot (1902) opined that Myristicaceae is closely related to Lauraceae. But there is evidence from morphological and anatomical studies that Myristicacea is more closely related to Annonaceae and Canellaceae (Wilson and Maculans, 1967). At present Myristicaceae is considered as a member of Magnoliales or its taxonomical equivalents (Cronquist, 1981; Dahlgren, 1983). Nutmeg is a conical tree reaching a height of 4 to 10 metres. The tree is dioecious with male and female flowers occurring on different trees. Nutmeg tree is obligatory cross pollinated and an ant mimicking flower beetle (Formicomum braminus – Anthridae) is an effective pollinator in South India (Armstrong and Drummond, 1986). The fruits are pendulous, broadly pyriform, yellow, smooth, 7–10 cm long, fleshy splitting open into two halves when ripe, showing the ovoid 2–3 cm long dark brown shining seed with hard seed coat, surrounded by a lanciate red aril attached to the base of the seed. The seed of nutmeg is large with ruminate endosperm and is considered as the most primitive among the flowering plants (Corner, 1976).