Tas. 5987. 
AMOMUM me tecueta, VAR. MINOR. 
Native of Western Tropical Africa. 
Nat. Ord. Zrnziperace&.—Tribe, Amoma. 
Genus, Amomum, Linn. ; (Endl. Gen. Pl. p. 223). 
Amomum melegueta ; caulibus gracilibus, foliis 4—6 pollicaribus anguste 
lineari-ellipticis longe attenuato-acuminatis glaberrimis, ligula brevi, 
vagina gracili, scapo 1-floro, bracteis 6—10 sub-appressis oblongis cuspi- 
datis, perianthio exteriore spathaceo acuminato, interioris foliolo dorsali 
oblongo concavo obtuso, lateralibus e basi lanceolata angustis sensim 
acuminatis recurvis, labelli limbo amplo orbiculato margine eruso, 
filamenti processubus lateralibus subulatis, anthere connectivo apice 
late subtriangulari integro dentato v. 2-fido, angulis lateralibus sub- 
ulatis, ovario glabro, staminodiis liberis elongatis angustis. 
Amomum melegueta, Roscoe Monand. Plants, t. 98; Pereira in Pharm. Journ. 
vol. vi. p. 412; Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 1131, f. 235-241; Guibourt Hist. 
Nat. des drogues simples, vol. ii. p. 222; Hook. f. in Kew Journ. Bot. 
vol. vi. p. 293. 
Var. minor, omnibus partibus minor, bracteis appresse convolutis, labello 
orbiculato. Tab. nost, 5987. (an species diversa ?) 
Apparently a small form of the plant which produces the 
famous Grains of Paradise of our shops, and perhaps the— 
indigenous state of that plant, of which I have seen no other 
specimens identical with Roscoe’s figure, but what were cul- 
tivated in French Guiana and Demerara, which differ from 
this in the larger size, longer leaves, more robust scape, 
larger looser bracts, larger flowers, and more obovate lip. 
The fruit, which I have received from Sierra Leone, but not 
With the plant here fieured, is fleshy, very variable in form 
and size, hal{-clothed with the upper bracts, more or less 
ellipsoid or ovoid, glabrous, with fleshy pulp, and the seeds 
are one-sixth of an inch long, aromatic and pungent, with a 
aig rather rough testa, and usually a conical areole at the 
lum. 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1872. 
