MYRISTICA OIL

Properties

Safety Information

Description

Evergreen tree 15 to 20 m (49 to 66 ft.) in height; grows in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Penang, Moluccas, and in several other islands of the Indian Ocean. It has alternate leaves and dioecious flowers. Consequently, only female trees bear nuts; male plants are interdispersed in the groves only to ensure pollination. The ripe fruits are yellow-red with a fleshy pericarp; the red arillode is tightly wrapped around a woody hull containing the seed.
Note: Mace designates the dried arillodes of nutmeg. The ratio of nutmegs to mace is approximately 10:1. Nutmeg and mace yield different, but sometimes similar, products.
The parts used are the nuts (free of the outer pulp) and arillodes (decolorized with lime). The most commercially important qualities of nutmeg and mace follow:
? Banda nutmeg and Banda mace contain 8% and 13% essential oil, respectively;
? Java nutmeg and Java mace contain 6.5% and 11% essential oil, respectively; and
? Siauw nutmeg and Siauw mace contain 6.5% and 10 to 12% essential oil, respectively.
These qualities are further subdivided according to size-large, medium, and small-for extraction and according to appearance- whole, worm-eaten, etc.