CAEDAMOM. Ill 



G. heterophylla, St. Hillaire.* This shrub is a native of 

 Brazil, in the province of Pdo Janeiro. Its leaves are 3, 4 and 5 

 foliate, on long petioles ; leaflets lanceolate, rather pubescent on 

 the middle nerve ; racemes super-axillary, on long peduncles ; 

 sterile stamens 2. 



A plant is described and figured in the Botanical Eegister, xvii., 

 t. 1420, as Galijjca odoratissima ] the leaves are simple, obovate, 

 obtuse and on short stalks. The writer in the Botanical Eegister 

 states that a specimen of this most fragrant plant was received by 

 the Horticultural Society from Kio Janeiro, and, as grown in 

 constant stove heat in England, it attains the height of about two 

 feet and is covered nearly to the bottom with its broad, deep green 

 leaves. When in flower, the whole atmosphere of the hothouse is 

 perfumed as if with jasmine, and the period of blossoming lasts 

 some time. 



Cardamom. 



Of the seeds of the different sorts of cardamoms, the most 

 esteemed are those contained in the dried capsules of EUtturia 

 Cardamoiimm Matonf {Al'innia cardamomum, Eoxb.). This is the 

 Elettari of Eheede.J 



Elettaria is a genus of Zingiber acea:, consisting of large perennial 

 herbs, having much the appearance of Amomum, but distinguished 

 from that genus by the elongated filiform tube of the corolla, by 

 the presence of internal lateral lobes in the shape of very small tooth- 

 like processes, and by the filaments not being prolonged beyond 

 the anther. All the species are natives of the tropical parts of 

 India. 



The specific botanical characters of B. Cardamomum, which 

 furnishes the fruits known as Officinal Cardamoms, commercially 

 known as " small " or " Malabar " cardamoms, are as follows : — 



Ehizomes thick, fleshy or woody, and ringed with the scars of 

 the attachment of previous leaves, giving off" fibrous roots below. 

 Stems perennial, erect, smooth, jointed, enveloped in the spongy 

 sheaths of the leaves ; from 6 to 9 feet high. Leaves large, 



* Bulletin des Sciences par la Societe Philomatique de Paris, 1823, p. 131 ; 

 also St. Hillaire, PI. rem. Bres, p. 131, t. 12. 

 t Trans. Lin. Soc, x. p. 254. 

 X Hort. Mal., xi. t. 4, 5 and 6. 



