Nutmeg and Mace.

[2b]

I just finished reading a book about Alfred Wallace , seems Darwin could have ripped him off with the 'origin of species' paper. Anyway you should all read up on this amazing man. Any way to get to the point he spent years exploring the Malay archepeligo (Indonesia) collect insects and birds , the best part of his work happened in the 'Spice Islands' which are just above Australia running North - South just west of West Papua (Iryanjia). So the Islands were the main source of Nutmeg/Mace & Cloves.
Well being geographically so close to Australia do we have native versions of these spices ?

[darcy]

there's Myristica insipida, the native nutmeg which i think can be substituted for real nutmeg, i thik there may be another Myristica as well.

There's plenty of Syzigium in Australia, cloves being the flower buds of Syzigium aromatica (i think), so perhaps there is one with a similar aroma?

[Rimbaud]

But with the name M. insipida i would reckon that as a "spice" the native myristica would be, well... insipid right? tasteless? Not sure about chemical makeup tho..

Teo/Lorax has M. insipida in his backyard i think?? What do they taste/smell like etc?

There are a whole bunch of natives with the nutmeg constituent Myristicin btw... Entheo on the SAB forum is compiling a big list.

[Lorax]

yeah they have taste, kinda like what teatrees smell like