G44 ZINGIBERACE^. 



A well-marked variety, differing chiefly in the elongated form and 

 largo size of its fruits, is found wild in the forests of the central and 

 soifthern provinces of Ceylon. It was formerly regarded as a distinct 

 species under the name of Elettaria major, but careful observation of 

 growing specimens has shown that it possesses no characters to warrant 

 it being considered more than a variety of the typical plant, and it is 

 therefore now called E. Cardamomum var. B. It is only known to occur 



Malabar 



as a cultivated plant.^ 



History— Cardamoms, Eld, are mentioned in the writings of 

 Susruta, and hence may have been used in India from a remote period. 

 It is not unlikely that in common with ginger and pepper they reached 

 Europe in classical times, although it is not possible from the descriptions 

 that have come down to determine exactly what was the KapSafj-ayp-ov 

 of Theophrastus and' Dioscorides, or the "kfxwjjLov of the last-named 

 writer. The Amomum, Amomis and Cardamomum of Pliny are also 

 doubtful, the description he gives of the last being unintelligible as 

 applied to anything now known by that name. 



In the list of Indian spices liable to duty at Alexandria, circa a.d. 

 17G-180 (see Appendix, A), Amomiim as well as Cardamomum is 

 mentioned. St. Jerome names Amomum together with musk, as per- 

 fumes in use among the voluptuous ecclesiastics of the 4th century. 



Cardamoms are named by Edrisi* about A.D. 1154 as a production ot 

 Ceylon, and also as an article of trade from China to Aden; and in the 

 same century they are mentioned together with cinnamon and cloves 

 (p. 282) as an import in Palestine by way of Acre, then a trading city 

 of the Levant.* 



The first writer who definitely and correctly states the country ot 

 the cardamom appears to be the Portuguese navigator Barbosa^ (1514), 

 who frequently names it as a production of the Malabar coast. Garcia 

 de Orta*' mentions the shipment of the drug to Europe; he also ascer- 

 tained that the larger sort was produced in Ceylon. The Malabar 



cardamon plant was figured by Kheede under its indigenous name oi 

 Elettari? 



The essential oil of cardamoms was distilled before 1544 by Valerius 

 Cordus (see p. 52G, note 1). 



Cultivation and Production— Although the cardamom plant grmvs 

 wild in the forests of Southern India, where it is commonly cailea 

 Ildchi, its fruits are largely obtained from cultivated plants. Ijie 

 methods of cultivation, which vary in the different districts, may be 

 thus described: — , 



1. Previous to the commencement of the rains the cultivators ascend 

 the mountain sides, and seek in the shady evergreen forests a spot where 

 some cardamom plants are growing. Here they make small clearings, m 



» Thwaitea, Ennmeratio Pkmtarum Zey- by a pliarmaciat of Cairo, iStla century, 



lamc^, 1864. 318. n^ed Abul Mena, is quoted b)^ Leclerc, 



•• ft- ^^^^<^ny^i'Ox>era Omnia, erl. Migne, Histoire de la AUdecine arabe, n. ir-' ' 



11. (184;)) 297, in Putroloy'ux curtim corn- 1876) 215. 



6 Description of the Coasts of -£«/^ ^ r.n 



ami Malahar, Hakluyt Society, ISt^^^- 



'vi tt' :'''-~rv *•;■'•=' H""i'i""»"ie wuei/ner C4, 147. 154. etc. _^_ . „ o 



Eleitana is intended at p. 5 1 . b i„ ^y,^ ^^rk quoted at p. 547, note ». 



Alonri and ctmou!, article ou cardamoms, 7 Hortm Malaharicm, xi. (1C92) tab. -i 



pldim, vol. xxii. 



1 1 l.i^\ -o*" ?i°''^ '1^^''*^'^ '^ ^^^"^ Appendix, i . .. „ .. .„ „.«„„, , .. 

 1^7 1' |^,,51.— It IS questionable whether C4, 147. 154. etc. 



