289 



On some Species (9/* Amomum, collected in Western Tropical Africa 

 by Dr. Daniell, Staff Surgeon, etc. etc; by J. D. Hooker, M.D., 

 P.R.S. 



For the materials from which the following identifications and de- 

 scriptions are made, I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Daniell, who, 

 at my request, exerted himself to procure, for the Museum at Kew, spe- 

 cimens in all states, of the various species of Amomum which he was 

 able to obtain in those parts of Africa which he visited. These, con- 

 sisting of dried leaves and fruits, and of flowers preserved in spirits, of 

 all ; and of whole dried specimens of stems and rhizomes, with leaves 

 and fruit attached, of many, afford the most extensive and complete 

 illustration of the African species that exists in this country ; and, being 

 accompanied by observations on the commercial and medical value of 

 their produce, they are of the greatest interest both to the Botanist and 

 Pharmacist. 



Hitherto the materials at the disposal of botanists for identifying the 

 species of Amomum, described by Linnaeus, Afzelius, Smith, Roscoe and 

 Pereira, have for the most part been wholly insufficient: characters of 

 no botanical value have (in the absence of better) been employed to 

 distinguish plants that did not differ specifically, and dissimilar species 

 have been united. Thus in Eees^s Cyclopaedia, which contains the 

 fullest botanical account of this genus, the A. Granum-Paradisi of 

 Smith appears under three names; and in the late Dr. Pereira's 'Ma- 

 teria Medica,' which contains the best modern account of these drugs 

 and their origin, it is stated that some doubt still exists whether the 

 two most dissimilar species, A. Granum-Paradm and A, Melegueta, are 

 identical or distinct. Much of this confusion has arisen from the fact, 

 that the descriptions hitherto published are very incomplete ; but more 

 is owin<^>- to the undue value attached by pharmacists, who are not skilled 

 in botany, to characters of apparent but of no real value, and to their 

 non-appreciation of important ones that are often conspicuous, but 



not understood. 



Thus, the scape being single-flowered is, in the present state of our 



knowledge of the genus, of itself a sufiicient diagnosis of the A. Mele- 

 gueta, Eoscoe ; as is the presence of minute haii's on the bracts, pe- 

 rianth, and fruit, of the A, Granum-Paradisi of Smith. 



Absolute size, whether of the whole plants of Amoma, or of their 



VOL. VI. 



2 p 



