Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 58/3059
.png)
( 3059 )
Monodora Myristica. Jamaica Calabash-Nutmeg
❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈
Class and Order.
Polyandria Monogynia.
(Nat. Ord.—Anonaceæ. )
Generic Character.
Cal. 3-sepalus, sepalis basi unitis. Pet. 6, basi unita; 3 exteriora oblongo-lanceolata, undulato-crispata, 3 interiora cordiformia, conniventia. Antheræ numerosæ, sessiles, basin germinis cingentes. Germen solitarium. Stigma sessile. Bacca lævis, subglobosa, 1-locularis . Semina in pulpa nidulantia.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
Descr. "This grows," according to Dr. Bancroft, to a large, branching tree, in habit resembling the Anonas. Leaves confined to the extremities of the branches, distichous, alternate, oblong, or sometimes obovate, somewhat cordate at the base, quite entire, nerved, veined, smooth, shining, of a bright, yet pale green above, paler still beneath, from four to five inches long, and from one to two
inches broad: the petioles are short, grooved above. The peduncles opposite to the leaves, single flowered, round, smooth, greenish-white, pendulous, four to seven inches long, generally single on the young branches, or, sometimes two, when one is at the base and the other towards the top. Occasionally the peduncles spring up on the lateral twigs of those branches, at from three to eight inches from the terminal leaves; these twigs being sometimes but half an inch or an inch and a half long, and bearing three to five leaves. In such cases, the peduncles shoot from the tips of the twigs. Near the summit of the peduncles is a bracteaa, reflexed when the flower is full blown, subcordate, acute, about twelve-nerved, green, crispato-undulate at the margin, slightly variegated with yellowish-red. Flowers fragrant; when beginning to expand, white, marked with purplish=brown spots; afterwards yellow and the spots brighter red. Calyx monophyllous, tube very short, limb deeply cleft into three unequal, coloured sepals, their margins crisped and waved: the sepal opposite to the bractea being shorter and narrower than the other two, which are somewhat coriaceous and ovato-acute. Corolla monopetalous, generally twice as long as the calyx; tube also short and reflexed; limb divided into six segments, arranged in a double series. Outer segments three, oblongo-ovate, their margins crisped and waved; of the same colour as the calycine segments, the ground bright yellow, marked with rows of irregular spots or interrupted stripes of reddish-brown, extending from the centre obliquely outwards, the smaller calycine sepal only being sometimes variegated with greenish-yellow along the middle and deep red at the margins. Inner segments three, from half to one-third shorter than the outer series, springing from the faux of the corolla by a short claw, cordate, convex, veined, yellowish-white externally, somewhat keeled on the back, down and entire at the edges, which adhere slightly together, within concave, smooth, shining, of a very pale yellow colour, variegated with pale crimson spots. The number of both the calycine and corolline segments is liable to occasional variation, nor does the their figure always precisely accord with the above description.
"Stamens closely set, in about eleven or twelve rows, on the receptacle: filaments none; anthers nearly sphærical, bilocular, yellowish-white, opening on each side, rather below the middle, by a roundish pore: pollen globular, yellowish, semitransparent. Germen nearly sphærical,
yellowish-white, crowned with a sessile, flattened stigma." Dr. Bancroft, on dissecting the recent germen, found it to be "thick and fleshy, having a small cavity in the centre, with globular ovules arranged around the whole internal surface, the seedstalk varying in length."
The fruit is figured and described by Gærtner as, " a simple, nearly globose, one-celled, glabrous, corticated Berry. Receptacle none, but the Seeds imbedded, without order[2], in the pulp: they are ovato-oblong, angled by mutual pressure, ferruginous. Integument double. Albumen of the same form as the seed, fleshy, hard, sculptured with deep, nearly parallel lines, and a longitudinal furrow. Cotyledons foliaceous, cordato-lanceolate. Radicle rounded, directed to the hilum."
We are much indebted to Dr. Bancroft of Jamaica for a drawing, and specimens both dried and in spirits, and for an accurate description of this plant. The fruit alone was described by Gærtner, under the name of Anona Myristica, from Sir Joseph Banks Museum. According to the Hortus Jamaicensis, the tree is reported to have been brought from the continent of South America[3] and planted at the Retreat Estate, Clarendon, Jamacia, where it was described by Long, but where it has since been destroyed. That author says of it, that the seeds are all packed close with singular regularity, so that after displacing them, it is impossible to restore them to the same order and compactness as before:–that thy are impregnated with an aromatic oil, resembling that of the Eastern Nutmeg, from which they differ so little in flavour and quality, that they may be used for similar purposes in food or medicine; the only perceptible difference to the taste being that they are less pungent the the East Indian Nutmeg: and he recommends it to general cultivation. Dunal, who had the use of Professor De Candolle's notes, made from dried specimens in Mr. Lambert's Herbarium, determined it to be a Genus widely distinct from Anona, differing indeed in the structure of the petals and fruit, as Dr. Bancroft correctly
remarks, from all the other Genera of the Order. At this time, there is only one tree in Jamaica, near Stoney Hill, whence our specimens were taken, unless the report be correct, that a second exists at St. Thomas in the East.
From the Genus Monodora is to be excluded the M. microcarpa, Anona microcarpa of Jaquin (Fragm. Bot. t.44. f. 7), established by that author from the fruit of Mr. Brown's Cargillia australis, of the family of Ebenanaceæ; (See Brown's Bot. of Congo, p. 56) so that the Monodora Myristica is the only known species of the Genus.
A. Branch of Monodora Myristica, in flower; and B. Fruit (from Gærtner): nat. size.
Fig. 1. Portion of a Flower, the reflexed Limb of the Corolla being removed. 2. One of the inner petals or Segments seen from within. 3. Stamen. 4. Section of the Germen. 5. 5. Seeds. 6. Albumen. 7. Section of the Albumen, to show the Embryo. 8. Embryo. Fig. 1–4 more or less magnified.
- ↑ From μονος, one, and δωρα, a gift, in allusion to its solitary fruit.
- ↑ Dr. Bancroft justly observes, that it is only necessary to observe the disposition of the seeds, as represented in Gærtner's own figure, to perceive that their position is the reverse of being "absque ordine", the hilum of each seed being regularly centrifugal, as might have been anticipated from the kind of arrangement which is to be seen in the ovules of the Germen.
- ↑ Mr. Brown considers it more probable, that it was brought by the Negroes from some part of the West coast of Africa.