Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NUT'MEG, n. [L. nux moschata; It. noce moscada; Port. noz moscada; Fr. muscade or noix muscade. But it may be questioned whether the last syllable in English meg, is not from L. macis, mace, the bark that envelops the nut.]

The kernel of the fruit of the Myristica moschata. This fruit is nearly a spherical drupe of the size, and somewhat of the shape of a pear. The fleshy part is of a yellowish color without, almost white within, and four or five lines in thickness, and opens into two nearly equal longitudinal valves, presenting to view the nut surrounded by its arillus, which is mace. The nut drops out and the arillus withers. The nut is oval, the shell very hard and dark-brown. This immediately envelops the kernel, which is the nutmeg as commonly sold in the shops. The tree producing this fruit grows principally in the islands of Banda, in the East Indies. It reaches the highth of twenty or thirty feet, producing numerous branches. The color of the bark of the trunk is a reddish brown; that of the young blanches a bright green. The nutmeg is an aromatic, very grateful to the taste and smell, and much used in cookery.