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Botanical: Myristica fragrans (HONK.)
---Synonyms---Arillus Myristicae. Myristica
officinalis. Myristica moschata. Macis. Muscadier.
Family: N.O. Myristicaceae
Used---The dried arillus of the fruit or nutmeg.
---Habitat---Moluccas and Bandy Islands, New Guinea, West
---History---The name is derived from a mediaeval
word for 'nut,' meaning 'suitable for an ointment.' The tree is a small
evergreen, not more than 40 feet in height, with smooth, greyish-brown
bark, green on the younger branches. The alternate leaves are
oblong-ovate, acute, entire, smooth, and dark-green. The flowers are very
small and unisexual. The fruits, smooth and yellow, resemble a pear
grooved by a longitudinal furrow and contain a single erect seed about 1
1/4 inch long, the nucleus being the wrinkled 'nutmeg,' and the fleshy,
irregular covering, scarlet when fresh and drying yellow and brittle, the
The principal harvest at Bencoolen is usually in the autumn, the
smaller one in early summer. The fruits, which split open when ripe, are
gathered with a long-handled hook and the products are separated. The mace
when dried is often sprinkled with salt water to preserve it. If packed
too moist it breeds worms.
Most of the supply comes from the Banda Islands by way of Java and
The 'blades,' 'bands,' or flattened, lobed pieces are about 25 mm.
long, smooth, irregular, translucent, brittle or flexible, and if
scratched or pressed exude an orangecoloured oil.
An inferior Mace is obtained from the long nutmeg, dark and very
brittle and lacking the fragrant odour and aromatic taste of the official
The medicinal properties resemble those of nutmeg, but it is
principally used as a condiment.
---Constituents---The principal constituent is 7
to 9 per cent of a volatile oil, protein, gum, resins, sugar and fixed
oil. The volatile oil contains much pinene, and a little myristicin, which
must be distinguished from the glyceride of myristic acid.
Two odorous fixed oils have been separated, a yellow one insoluble in
boiling alcohol but soluble in ether, and a red one soluble in either.
The powder is brown or buff, orangetinted.
Oil of Mace is practically identical with distilled oil of nutmeg or
---Medicinal Action and Uses---A flavouring
agent, stimulant and tonic.
Both Mace and Nutmeg help digestion in stomachic weakness, but if used
to excess may cause over-excitement. They increase circulation and animal
heat. They have been employed in pestilential and putrid fevers, and with
other substances in intermittent fevers, and enter into the composition of
many French medicaments.
---Dosage---5 to 20 grains.
yielding Bombay Mace, which is deficient in odour and taste. Several
chemical tests provide means of detecting the substitution. It yields a
much higher percentage of ether-soluble matter.
M. argentea, yielding Macassar Mace, which is of a dull brown
colour with an odour like sassafras. It is too acrid for medicinal use.
M. otoba, yielding a Mace which, incorporated with fat, is used
in gout and rheumatism.
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