The nutmeg tree is a native of the Banda Islands, a cluster of small volcanic islands historically known as the Spice Islands and now part of the province of Molucca in Indonesia. Nutmeg isn't really a nut, but the kernel of an apricot-like fruit. The closely related is an arillus, a thin leathery tissue between the stone and the pulp. As noted by Ginger Webb in Herbalgram (1996), natives of the Banda islands use nutmeg oil for treatment of flu. The oil is rubbed on the abdomen for stomach ...(more)