RowenaTardent at 18:06, 10 November 2025

2025-11-10T18:06:33Z

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{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Myristica beddomei and fruit.jpg
| image_caption = ''Myristica beddomei'' leaves and fruits
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author= IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group & Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) |date=2024 |title= ''Myristica beddomei'' |volume=2024 |article-number= e.T62670A242369840 |doi= 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-1.RLTS.T62670A242369840.en |access-date=February 20, 2025}}</ref>
| genus = Myristica
| species = beddomei
| authority = [[George King (botanist)|King]]
}}

'''''Myristica beddomei''''' is a species of tree in the family [[Myristicaceae]]. It is [[Endemism|endemic]] to the [[Western Ghats]], [[India]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Banik |first1=D |last2=Bora |first2=P.P. |last3=Kumar |first3=V.S. |last4=Bezbaruah |first4=R.L. |date=2017 |title=Conspectus on Indian Gymnacranthera and Myristica |journal=Rheedea |language=en |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.22244/rheedea.2017.27.1.1 |issn=0971-2313|doi-access=free }}</ref> where it is frequent in the mid-elevation wet evergreen forests<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pascal |first1=Jean-Pierre |last2=Pelissier |first2=Raphael |date=1996 |title=Structure and floristic composition of a tropical evergreen forest in south-west India |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S026646740000941X/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of Tropical Ecology |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=191–214 |doi=10.1017/S026646740000941X |issn=0266-4674|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and an important food tree of [[Hornbill|hornbills]]. The species has been earlier misidentified in regional floras and herbarium specimens as ''[[Myristica dactyloides]]'' Gaertn., the latter occurring only in [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name=":0" />

== Description ==
Canopy and sub-canopy trees in tropical wet evergreen forests, growing up to 25 m high. The trees have a smooth blackish green '''bark''' that peels off. Inner bark is deep red and when exposed or blazed produces a red exudate. The cylindrical '''branches''' are arranged in whorls around the trunk and are held horizontally almost perpendicular to the main trunk.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Myristica beddomei beddomei {{!}} Species |url=https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/263616 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=India Biodiversity Portal |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Myristica dactyloides Gaertn. {{!}} Species |url=https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/16020 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=India Biodiversity Portal |language=en}}</ref> The '''leaves''' are simple, alternate, and arranged in rows on opposite sides of the twigs ([[distichous]]) with a hairless petiole about 1.5 cm to 4 cm long that has a groove along the top ([[Canaliculated|canaliculate]]). The leaf blade is thick and leathery, shining dark green above and whitish [[glaucous]] below. Leaves are variable in shape (oblong or elliptic to lanceolate), and about 12-25 cm long by 4-12 cm wide. The leaf apex is usually acute with a blunt tip or obtuse, while the base is acute to rounded.The leaf has an entire margin and a raised midrib. Venation includes 10 to 18 pairs of secondary nerves and tertiary nerves that are obscure or broadly reticulo-percurrent when visible.<ref name=":1" />

''Myristica beddomei'' is [[dioecious]], with [[Unisexual flowers|unisexual]] white '''flowers'''. The male flowers occur in clusters of 10-12 in short umbels in the axils of leaves, while female flowers are arranged in fascicles without stalks. The '''fruit''' is a distinctive egg-shaped, tomentose capsule, yellowish brown to orange in colour about 6 cm long by 3-4 cm in diameter, and with a shallow groove on the surface. When ripe, the capsule dehisces open to reveal the single egg-shaped or ellipsoid dark brown '''seed''' covered in a bright orange red, deeply [[laciniate]] [[aril]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> The fruit was reported to have average dimensions of 63.4 mm length and 60.0 mm diameter, and mass of 77 g, while the corresponding seed measurements were 39.5 mm (length), 35.5 mm (diameter), and 19 g (mass).<ref>Jose, P. A., and Pillai, P.K. Chandrasekhara (2016) Conservation through restoration of wild nutmeg tree populations of Western Ghats of Kerala. KFRI Research Report No. 516, 61 pages. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, India. ISSN: 0970-8103</ref>

== Taxonomy ==
''Myristica beddomei'' differs from the Sri Lankan taxon ''[[Myristica dactyloides|M. dactyloides]]'' in leaf and flower characteristics. The latter has broadly lanceolate to broadly elliptic leaves with obtuse base, being brownish with indistinct veins on the underside. The male flowers have caducous bracteoles and the male flower buds are distinctly ellipsoid with pointed apex.<ref name=":0" />

''Myristica beddomei'' has three known subspecies: ''M. b.'' ''beddomei'', ''M. b. ustulata'' and ''M. b. sphaerocarpa'', with the former two subspecies sometimes wrongly identified as ''[[Myristica dactyloides|M. dactyloides]]'' in some regional floras and herbaria.<ref name=":0" />

''M. b. sphaerocarpa'' differs from ''M. b. beddomei'' in its leaf size (7–10 × 3–5.5 cm), having 7–10 pairs of lateral veins (versus 12–20 in the former), and globose shape to the fruits and seeds, besides having a 4 mm thick [[pericarp]]. ''M. b. ustulata'' differs from the ''M. b. beddomei'' in having 3–4 mm thick dry pericarp, and male flowers having 0.3–0.5 mm long blackish brown hairs and persistent [[bracteole]].<ref name=":0" />

== Common names ==
The species has a number of common names in English and Indian languages. Common [[English language|English]] names include wild [[nutmeg]]<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Neginhal |first=S.G. |title=Forest Trees of South India |publisher=Navbharat Press |year=2004 |isbn=81-901420-1-1 |location=Bangalore |pages=284 |language=en}}</ref> and bitter nutmeg.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Bitter Nutmeg |url=https://flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Bitter%20Nutmeg.html |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=Flowers of India}}</ref> The species is known as kattu jathikkai or kakaimunji jathikai in [[Tamil language|Tamil]]; jayaphal in [[Marathi language|Marathi]]; ran-jayaphal in [[Konkani language|Konkani]]; jayaphal, jajikai, or kaadu jajikai in [[Kannada]]; and patthapanu, adakkapayin, panthapayin, panu, chorapali, chithirapoovu, pasupathi, or pathiripoovu in [[Malayalam]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

== Distribution and habitat ==
The species is found along the Western Ghats in [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Kerala]], [[Karnataka]], [[Goa]], and [[Maharashtra]], in subtropical and tropical wet evergreen forests, in [[Shola|sholas]] and occasionally in [[Myristica swamp|''Myristica'' swamps]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> The species occurs as sub-canopy trees in [[Tropical evergreen forests of India|tropical wet evergreen forests]] from the foothills to an elevation of 1500 m.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Myristica dactyloides - MYRISTICACEAE |url=http://www.biotik.org/india/species/m/myridact/myridact_en.html |access-date=2023-04-26 |website=www.biotik.org}}</ref> In the [[Anaimalai Hills]], the species is reported to range between 500 m and 1400 m in elevation, evenly and sparsely distributed through mature rainforests but also occurring in transitional forest zones.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Madhavan |first1=A.P. |title=Last Ones Standing: Eleven Threatened Trees of the Western Ghats Rainforests |last2=Bhat |first2=Kshama |last3=Kasinathan |first3=Srinivasan |publisher=Nature Conservation Foundation |year=2022 |isbn=978-81-954663-0-6 |location=Mysuru |pages=26–29 |language=en}}</ref>

The distributional range of different sub-species is not clearly demarcated, with ''M. b. beddomei'' reported to occur in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, ''M. b. sphaerocarp''a in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, and ''M. b. ustulata'' in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
<references />

{{Taxonbar|from=Q17140430}}

[[Category:Myristica|beddomei]]
[[Category:Endemic flora of the Western Ghats]]
[[Category:Taxa named by George King (botanist)]]

{{Myristicaceae-stub}}

Myristica beddomei - Revision history

RowenaTardent at 18:06, 10 November 2025