Short answers, pulled from the story.
Nutmeg originates from the Banda Islands in eastern Indonesia, part of the Maluku Islands group. The earliest evidence of its use comes from 3,500-year-old potsherd residues found on the island of Pulau Ai. The Banda Islands were the only source of nutmeg and mace production in the world until the mid-nineteenth century.
Nutmeg and mace both come from the same tree, Myristica fragrans. Nutmeg is the ground seed, while mace is the spice made from the reddish aril, or seed covering, that wraps around the nutmeg seed. Mace has a more delicate flavour than nutmeg and is dried over ten to fourteen days, during which its color changes from crimson to pale yellow, orange, or tan.
In large doses, nutmeg has psychoactive effects linked to compounds called myristicin and elemicin, which act through anticholinergic-like hallucinogenic mechanisms. Myristicin is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor that can cause convulsions, palpitations, nausea, dehydration, and body pain. Intoxication may take several hours to peak and can last for several days.
Control of nutmeg drove some of the earliest European ventures into Asia. In 1621, the Dutch East India Company waged a campaign against the Bandanese people to seize a monopoly on production; historian Willard Hanna estimated the islands' population fell from roughly 15,000 to about 1,000. Nutmeg's value also shaped the Treaty of Breda, in which the British traded Run Island to the Dutch in exchange for New Amsterdam, the island now known as Manhattan.
As of 2023, Guatemala leads global nutmeg production with 95,211 tonnes out of a world total of 219,223 tonnes. India and Indonesia are secondary producers. Together, the three countries account for eighty-nine percent of global output.
Grenada's national flag, adopted in 1974, features a stylised split-open nutmeg fruit. Nutmeg trees were transplanted to Grenada by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, when they temporarily occupied the Dutch-held Banda Islands and spread the trees to several colonial territories, including Grenada.