FRUCTUS CARDAMOMI. 049 



m 



4,G78 pecuLs (623,733 lbs.), and were all to Singapore and China.' 

 In 1875 we noticed the export from Bangkok of 267 pecuLs of "true" 

 cardamoms, valued at 45,140 dollars, and 3,267 peculs of "bastard" 

 cardamoms, value 92,865 dollars; the latter no doubt refer to the 

 following kind : ^ 



Xanthioid Cardamom; Wild or Bastard Cardamom of Siam 

 This is afforded hj Amomiirii xanthioides Wallieh, a native of Tenassc- 

 rim and Siam. During the past thirty years the seeds of this plant, 

 deprived of their capsules, have often been imported into the London 

 market, and they are now also common in the bazaars of India.^ They 

 closely resemble the seeds of the Malabar cardamom, differing chiefly 

 m flavour and in being rather more finely rugose. Occasionally they 

 are imported still cohering in ovoid, three-lobed masses, as packed in 

 the pericarp. Sometimes they are distinguished as Bastard or Wild, 

 but are more generally termed simply Cardamom Seeds. They are a 

 considerable article of trade^ in Siam. 



The fruits of this species grow in round clusters and are remarkable 

 for having the pericarp thickly beset with weak fleshy spines,^ which 

 gives them some resemblance to the fruits of a Xanthium, and has sug- 

 gested the specific name. 



Bengal Cardamom — This drug, which with the next two has been 

 hitherto confounded under one name,^ is afforded by Amomum suhula- 

 tmi Roxb.,® a native of the Morung mountains, to the S.S. W. of Darjiling, 

 in about 2G''-30' N. lat. The fruit is known by the name of Winged 

 Bengal Cardamom, Morung Elachi or Buro ElacJd. They average 

 about an inch in length, and are of ovoid or slightly obconic form, and 

 obscurely 3-sided; the lower end is rounded and usually devoid of 

 stalk. The upper part of the fruit is provided with 9 narrow jagged 

 v.-ings or ridges, which become apparent after maceration; and the 

 summit terminates in a truncate bristly nipple,— never protracted into 

 a long tube. The pericarp is coarsely striated, and of a deep brown. 

 It easily splits into 3 valves, inclosing a 3-lobed mass of seeds, GO to 80 

 m number, agglutinated by a viscid saccharine pulp, due to the aril 

 With which each seed is surrounded. The seeds are of roundish form, 

 rendered angular by mutual pressure, and about | of an inch long; 

 ^hey have a highly aromatic, camphoraceous taste. 



^epal Cardamom—The description of the Bengal cardamom 

 applies in many points to this drug, to which it has a singularly close 

 resemblance. The fruit is of the same size and form, and is also 

 crowned in its upper part with thin jagged ridges, and marked ma 

 similar manner with longitudinal striae; and lastly, the seeds have the 

 same shape and flavour. But it differs, firstly, in bearing on its summit 

 a tubular calyx, which is as long or longer than the fruit itselt; and, 

 secondly, in the fruit being often attached to a short stalk. The fruits 

 are borne on an ovoid scape, 3 to 4 inches long, densely crowded with 



Comimrclnl Report of II. M. Comul- (1855) 418; also Science Papers, 18/6, p. 



^'!^^ral Ui Siam for im. 101 103. r ,r , u , •• 



science Papers 102-103 " -^^ ^y Pcreira, Lkiu. oj Mat. Med. ii. 



J ^loodeen Sheriff, J«^»/me«.< <o P/iar- (1850)1135 ^ ^ ,^. . «• t u 



'^.ymia of India, Madras, 1869. 41. « According to Dr. King, in Sir Joseph 



•''O. Hooker's Report on the Royal Gardcu^ at 



' See figures in Pharm. Jourtt. xiv. KeiC, 1877. 27. 



