Nutmeg

Nutmeg, common name applied to any of a family of evergreen shrubs and trees. The family comprises about 19 genera and 400 species. The nutmeg is native to the Moluccas in Indonesia. It has also been widely cultivated in southern Asia, the West Indies, and Brazil for its seeds, which yield various spices, and for its timber. Plants in the family are dioecious, with inconspicuous flowers. The fruit is a yellow drupe having a diameter of about 5 cm (about 2 in), popularly called the nutmeg apple, which splits into two halves, thereby revealing the seed surrounded by a fleshy outer coating. In plants of the typical genus, which contains about 80 species, this seed is dried to form the culinary spice popularly known as nutmeg. The fleshy orange coat around the seed is peeled off and also dried to form the spice known as mace. The most common nutmeg tree grows to a height of about 15 m (about 50 ft).

Scientific classification: Nutmeg plants make up the family Myristicaceae. The most common nutmeg tree is classified as Myristica fragans.