21 AMOMUM CARDAMOMUM. 
‘‘ woody mountain. A tree of uncommon size and weight is 
‘* then sought after; the adjacent spot is cleared of weeds, and 
*« the tree felled close at its root. The earth, shaken and loosened 
by the force of the fallen tree, shoots forth young cardamoms in 
‘‘about a month’s iime. I have repeatedly enquired of the 
‘* natives, the means by which the cardamoms are first produced, 
‘¢ and have invariably been told as already stated. They attribute 
‘no other effects to the tree, (which may be selected from any 
‘* species,} than such as are derived from its weight and strength, 
‘* added to the shade and shelter which its branches afford to the 
young sprouts. I have heard it by some asserted, that the 
‘* Cardamom, like the fabled phoenix, would emerge from the 
‘‘ ashes of any large forest tree ; but these stories were uttered 
‘only by the ignorant, and are too absurd to require comment. 
‘* The shrub continues to grow in this manner until after the 
‘* early rains of the fourth year in February, when it has reached 
“* its utmost height, which varies from six to nine feet; four or 
‘* five tendrils are now seen to spring from its stem near the root, 
‘*and afterwards is produced the fruit, which is gathered the 
‘* following November, and requires no other preparation than 
‘« drying in the sun. The fruit is annually collected in this way 
‘* unul the seventh year, when it is usual to cut itdown, and from 
‘* the trunk other sprouts arise in the course of the next monsoon, 
The husk 
‘* with the seed I have called the fruit, as it corresponds with 
‘* which grow, flourish, and are cultivated as before. 
‘* the native name. The seeds are termed the rice, and the ten- 
‘* drils the threads of the plant. 
‘I do not hear of any varieties in the species. It may be 
“not unnecessary to mention, that this commodity yields to 
‘* government from 25 to 30,000 rupees per annum. The 
‘* inhabitants use it as a general condiment to their food ; and 
‘© it is likewise held in sacred estimation for the purposes of 
‘* sacrifice. It is constantly chewed with beetle; and some medi- 
‘* cinal properties are ascribed to it when used in decoction for 
‘complaints in the bowels. I am assured by all, that the seeds 
‘* of the Cardamom will never produce any thing, and it is only 
‘« to be propagated as already stated, or by cuttings.” 
227. AMOMUM CARDAMOMUM. 
Leaves short petiol’d, lanceolar. Spikes even with the earth, lax. 
Bractes lanceolate, acute. Lip, with anterior margin 3-lobed, 
Crest 3-lobed. 
Amomum cardamomum. Linn. spec. edit. Willd. 1. p. 8. Roxb. in 
Asiat. resear. 11. p. 348. 
Amomum cardamomum. Kenig in Retz. obs. 3. p. 59. 
Cardamomum minus. Rumph. amb. 5. t. 65. f. 1. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root perennial, creeping under the surface of the soil, like that of . 
ginger, but smaller, less fleshy, more ligneous and white, 
from which descend, and spread many fleshy fibres. 
Stems herbaceous, several, rising obliquely to the height of from 
two to four feet, and about as thick as a stout ratan, invested 
in the smooth deep green sheaths of the leaves. 
Leaves alternate, bifarious, short petioled on their smooth, stem- 
clasping sheaths, from broad-lanceolate below, to narrow- 
AMOMUM CARDAMOMUM. 22 
lanceolate at top; entire and smooth on both sides, point 
long and very fine ; length from six to twelve inches. 
Spikes radical, sessile, oblong, appearing amongst the stems, half 
immersed in the earth, loosely imbricated, with one-flowered, 
ovate, acute, villous, nervous, scariose, ash-coloured. bractes; 
when old their brittle tops are often broken off. 
Bractes, besides the exterior, one-flowered ones, just mentioned ; 
there is an inner, striated, downy, scariose, two-toothed, 
tubular one, which I have sometimes considered an exterior 
calyx; and which Koenig sometimes calls an involucre, 
inserted round the base of the germ. 
Flowers opening in succession, and not very conspicuous. 
Perianth above, clavate, tubular, downy, three-toothed, length of 
the tube of the corol. 
Corol: Tube slender, and slightly incurved. Exterior border of 3, 
subequal, pellucid divisions. Jnner one rather longer than 
the exterior three, greatly broader, somewhat three-lobed, 
with crenate, curled margin: middle lobe yellow, with 
two rosy lines leading up on each side, from the mouth of 
the tube. 
Filament scarce half so long as the border of the corol, incurved 
over the mouth of the tube. A slender subulate horn on 
each side of the base of the filament, and nearly its length. 
Anther large, fleshy, with large, three-lobed, concave apex, over 
which appears the large, infundibuliform stigma, rising 
through the deep groove, between the two polliniferous lobes. 
Germ beneath, downy, and crowned (within the base of the tube 
of the corol,) with the two nectarial scales ; here they are 
short, broad, and truncated. 
The seeds prove to the taste agreeably aromatic, and are used 
by the Malays as a substitute for the real cardamom of Malabar. 
‘The whole plant possesses an agreeable fragrant spicy smell. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
A native of Sumatra and Malay Islands to the eastward of the 
Bay of Bengal; and sent by Dr. Charles Campbell from Bencoolen 
to the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, where it blossoms in April. 
GLOBBA. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Corolla with interior border two-lobed, or none. Filament very 
long, curved ; base tubular, and winged, with a cuneiform 
lip. Anther double (appendicled or naked). Capsule, one- 
celled, three-valved. Seeds many, attached to 3 parietal 
receptacles. 
228. GLOBBA PENDULA. 
Leaves lanceolate. Racemes terminal, compound, greatly longer 
than the leaves. Anther bicalcarate. Roxb. in Asiat. resear. 
vol. 11. p. 359. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root fibrous, perennial. 
Stems erect, about three feet from the ground to the highest part 
of the curvature of the panicle. 
Leaves lanceolate, smooth, fine-pointed, about six inches long and 
one anda half broad. Sheaths a little hairy on the outside. 
