of the Malabar Cardamom. 233 



Stems. Base tuberous, clubbed, ring'd rim-wise for two or three 

 inches; the lower part giving out viviparous shoots, the 

 upper part panicles. Stems erect from the base, and 

 slightly elliptical, tapering as the continuous sheaths send oft' 

 the leaves ; when bearing, from six to twelve feet high, and 

 from eight and twelve to thirty in number, quite smooth to the 

 touch, finely scored to the eye, with varying shades of glossy 

 green, pale at the base, whii^h distinguishes this species from 

 a congener frequent on the same site, but with a red or 

 fuscous base. 



Leaves very long, in the same plane, alternate, at distances a little 

 unequal, supported on long sheaths embracing closely half 

 the stem, elliptico-linear-spear-pointed, from nine inches 

 to two feet and a half long, from one to five inches broad, 

 upper side waved wkh narrow ridges and broad furrows 

 acutely with the middle rib, smooth, dark-green, edges very 

 entire, below pale sea-green,, and glossy with a silky soft- 

 ness, middle rib channelled above,, keeled below. Petioles 

 short, grooved with a small obtuse squamous process em- 

 bracing the stem above the sheath. 



Roofs fibrous, thinly ramose, and with here and there a fibre 

 much longer and larger than the rest, running obliquely 

 into the soil. 



There is no individual of the Amomum tribe that displays so 

 much natural beauty as the Cardamomum. The glistening polish 

 of its stems, the sea-green glossy surface of its leaves waving 

 with the least impulse, and the general symmetry of the whole, 

 easily distinguish it from its rival neighbours in the woods. It 

 outshines them also in the elegance of its flowers : the vivid 

 pink, surrounded by the pale white of the spreading division 



of 



