Nutrition
Like
all other plants, Myristica fragrans undergoes the
process of photosynthesis in order to produce energy. This type
of energy produced is considered potential energy because it is
stored. This process occurs in the chloroplast of plant cells
and is crucial to the survival of the plant. Nutmeg is
considered autotrophic, or a photoautotroph, because
photosynthesis is its primary source of nutrition, and the plant
does use some of the energy from photosynthesis for respiration
as well. The process of photosynthesis involves an
organism using energy from the sun to produce sugars. This
process is broken up into two stages: the light-dependent
reaction and the light-independent reactions. The
light-dependant reactions occur when the leaves of the plant use
energy from the sun to make ATP. The light-independent reaction
occurs by using the ATP from the light-dependent reaction as a
source for making carbohydrates. The general equation for
photosynthesis is
carbon dioxide + water + light energy → glucose + oxygen
+ water
but in a chemically balanced form it would look like this:
6 CO2(gas) + 12
H2O(liquid) + photons →
C6H12O6(aqueous)
+ 6 O2(gas) + 6 H2O(liquid)
The
Cashew and the
Castor Bean are two other photosynthetic organisms.
Myristica fragrans also absorbs various nutrients and water through its roots and they are transported throughout the plant. The specialized cell, xylem (Greek word meaning "wood), pulls the water as well as some soluble nutrients up the tree. It accomplishes this by diffusion when water evaporates from the leaves of the tree. Water is drawn up via adhesion of the tubes and cohesion of the polar water molecules. This ensures that the column of water does not break. All vascular plants, including nutmeg, contain a second specialized cell, phloem. The phloem is made up of sieve tube members, companion cells, and parenchyma cells. The sugars and organic nutrients from photosynthesis travel through the sieve tube members. The companion cells take part in loading and unloading sugars from the sieve cells, and the parenchyma cells are used to store these sugars and for support. The leaves of the plant are in a high solute concentration and must move the nutrients to the rest of the tree that are in a low solute concentration. In order for this to happen, the companion cells must use active transport to move stored sugars between sieve tube members and the parenchyma cells. (In Greek, phloem means "bark," and the phloem makes up the innermost portion of the bark of the tree). To learn about another organism that contains xylem and phloem, the Juniper, click here.
In addition to xylem and phloem, land plants have adapted stomata which are mechanisms that regulate the flow of water and gases in and out of the plant. Carbon dioxide enters and oxygen exits the leaves through the stomata. Any unused nutrients are stored in the form of glucose, and are most likely cellulose or starch. The nutmeg seed is not available for harvest until roughly 7-9 years after planting, and the trees reach full production around 20 years of age.