Myristica cagayanensis

Common Names: Cagayan Nutmeg (English), 蘭嶼肉豆蔻 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Myristica cagayanensis Merr. [1]
Family: Myristicaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Cagayan Province (Philippines), Green Island (Taiwan) and Orchid Island (Taiwan) [2]
Natural Habitat: Lowland rainforest
Description: Evergreen tree that can grow to around 20 m tall. [2] Trunks usually tawny in colour. The leathery alternate leaves are around 15-20 cm x 5-7 cm (length by width) for male plants and 20-40 cm x 8-12 cm (length by width) for female plants. [3]
Flowers: Dioecious species (male and female plants separate). The creamy small bell-flowers bloom at around September. [3]
Seeds: The roughly 3-4 cm dark brown seeds are recalcitrant and need to be sown as fresh as possible. The seed nuts are enwrapped by a red aril, contained inside an orange husk, which splits open when ripe.

This species used to be classified under Myristica ceylanica var. cagayanensis, however some scholars have noted differences and placed this species as its own. Cagayan nutmeg seems to be inedible and not much culinary record is available for this species of nutmeg. This species may be threatened due to habitat destruction. In Taiwan, this species is sometimes planted as ornamental/street trees. The fruit is rich in oil and is called “gago” by the Tao people of Orchid Island, which means fire-lighting lamp-oil. The seeds are reportedly rich in lignan-type compounds such as cagayanin, otobain, otobanone and more. [4]

Because the seeds are so recalcitrant, it was really hard to find fresh seeds that could germinate, a lot of the seeds I’ve collected in the past would end up rotting or have already been chewed up by squirrels. Fortunately, two seeds I’ve collected this time from street trees were quite fresh and were able to germinate. I did at first hydrate the seeds in water first overnight and then placed in Sphagnum moss until germination, which took just under 2 weeks.

2021/06/17, Myristica cagayanensis fresh seeds collected

I did not plant them directly into the potting mix when they germinated. An observation ws that the seedlings seem to draw up water a lot.

2021/07/18, Myristica cagayanensis seeds germinated and growing shoots

Within the one month of germination, the seedling grows quite rapidly, growing long stem and large leaves while very young.

2021/07/25, Myristica cagayanensis seedling planted in pot

Most of the time the plant remained indoors, which was about 28°C/82.4°F in summer (~50% humidity) and minimum 15°C/59°F (~70% humidity) in winter. During winter, the plant’s growth halted.

2021/08/07, Myristica cagayanensis seedling grew out leaves

The roots grow quite deep and are thick. Hence I decided to plant it in a bigger pot so that the roots have more space to grow. However, as it was in winter, I did not see any growth due to more space in the pot even after 2 months of planting in a new pot.

2022/02/04, Myristica cagayanensis seedling planted in bigger pot

REFERENCES

1. http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000263731
2. http://portal.cybertaxonomy.org/flora-malesiana/node/7132#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&manifest=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.cybertaxonomy.org%2Fflora-malesiana%2Fiiif%2Ftaxon%2F3da3e2d3-6a14-408a-9b48-c47445e442f8%2Fmanifest%3Ftype%3DImageFile%26relationships%3D%26relationshipsInvers%3D%26includeTaxonDescriptions%3D1%26includeOccurrences%3D%26includeTaxonNameDescriptions%3D%26includeTaxonomicChildren%3D&xywh=-231%2C16%2C1263%2C1206
3. http://kplant.biodiv.tw/%E8%98%AD%E5%B6%BC%E8%82%89%E8%B1%86%E8%94%BB/%E8%98%AD%E5%B6%BC%E8%82%89%E8%B1%86%E8%94%BB.htm
4. https://doi.org/10.1248/cpb.37.2310