Family : Myristicaceae

English : Nutmeg, Mace tree

Hindi : Jay ka ped, Jayphal

Gujarati : Jayphal, Javantri

Sanskrit : Jati, Jatiphalan

Part used : Seed

Botanical Description: A moderate sized usually dioecious, aromatic, evergreen tree with greyish black bark having lenticular spots on the outside and red juice on the inner side ; leaves elliptic or oblong-lanceolate ; thin coriaceous shiny above, dull beneath, flowers creamy yellow, fragrant in umbellate, cymes staminal column of male flowers stalked, anthers 10-14, linear, ovary of female flowers sessile, ovoid globose ; fruits yellow, broadly pyriform or globose, pericarp fleshy, splitting into two halves at maturity, seeds oblong, obtuse, testa shiny, aril yellowish red, irregularly lobed, extending to the apex of the seed. Mace is the arrilus of the seed in fragrans. Fruiting and flowering from December to May.

It is cultivated in the hotter parts of India.

Modern Pharmacological Action: The aqueous & alcoholic extract of Myristica fragrans (Nutmeg) has beneficial anthelmintic effect .