The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is unique among the spice plants as it produces two separate and distinct products – the nutmeg which is the kernel of the seed and the mace which is the dried aril that surrounds the single seed within the fruit. It is a spreading evergreen tree, usually dioecious, which is native to the Moluccas in the East Indian Archipelago, belonging to the small primitive family Myristicaceae. Nutmegs reached Europe after cloves.

By 1650 the order had become fairly effective. Most writers comment that the scheme was thwarted by fruit pigeons which swallowed the seeds and voided them on neighbouring islands. The original source of this statement, which has been faithfully copied, is hard to identify, but the story, like the seeds, is rather hard to swallow. It is possible that the spice occurred in regions of the islands unknown to the Dutch, and there was a brisk trade in spices by the natives with Mindanao and Kedah.

In order to maintain very high prices for nutmegs and mace, the Dutch, in addition to limiting production in the Moluccas, burnt accumulated stocks in Amsterdam in 1760. The import price of mace in London in 1806 as 85-90s per pound. The first attempt to break the Dutch monopoly was made by the French in Mauritius, then known as Ile de France. Pierre Poivre obtained plants in the Far East and arrived at Port Louis in December, 1753 with only five of the original thirty-two nutmeg plants surviving.

A quarrel broke out between Poivre and Fusee-Aublet on the identity of the plants and they appear to have been lost. Later Poivre was responsible for a further expedition. Provost, who was in charge of the ship l’Etoile du Matin, found that the Dutch had destroyed all the plants on Ceram, but he was able to collect `enormous quantities of nutmeg seeds and seedlings and a smaller quantity of clove seedlings’ on the island of Geby and return with them to the Ile de France. Like modern argonauts, their crews had sailed across the dangerous seas of the Moluccas in search for seeds and seedlings of the much-coveted clove and nutmeg, and had now come home with their treasure. The event, celebrated as “une conquete” in the Journal de Paris, crowned a quest which had started twenty-five years earlier when Pierre Poivre set foot in Batavia.’

Nutmegs have been introduced into almost every tropical country where climatic conditions are in any way suitable, including India, the Philippines, most West Indian islands, tropical America, and Pacific islands. Today the bulk of the world’s supply comes from Indonesia and Grenada, with a small quantity from Sri Lanka.

As has been shown elsewhere, it was the search for the spice islands of the East which stimulated Columbus to try and find a way via the west in 1492, resulting in the discovery of the New World, and Vasco da Lama’s voyage to India in 1498. The Portuguese pushed further east and in 1512 had reached the Moluccas. This enabled them to capture the source of the trade in nutmegs and mace, which they dominated for nearly a century.