112 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



alternate, sub-sessile in their sheaths, entire, lanceolate, fine pointed, 

 pubescent above, silky beneath, length from 1 to 2 feet. Sheaths 

 slightly villous with a roundish ligula rising from the mouth. 

 Scapes several (3 or 4) from the base of the stems, resting on the 

 ground, flexuose, jointed, branched, from 1 to 2 feet long. Branches 

 and racemes alternate, one from each joint of the scape, sub-ereet, 

 two or three inches long. Bractes solitary, oblong, smooth, mem- 

 branous, striated, sheathing, one at each joint of the scape, 

 embracing the insertion of the raceme or branch, and one at 

 each of their joints. Flowers alternate, short-stalked, solitary at 

 each joint of the racemes, opening in succession as the racemes 

 lengthen. Calyx funnel-shaped, 3-toothed at the mouth, about 

 three-quarters of an inch long, striated with fine nerves, permanent. 

 Tube of corolla slender, as long as the calyx; limb double, exterior 

 of three oblong, concave, nearly equal, pale greenish-white divisions, 

 inner lip obovate, much larger than the exterior divisions, some- 

 what curled at the margin with the apex slightly 3-lobed, marked 

 chiefly in the centre with purple violet stripes. Filament short, 

 erect. Anther double, emarginate. Ovary oval, smooth ; style 

 slender ; stigma funnel shaped. Capsule oval, somewhat 3 -sided, 

 3-celled, 3-valved. Seeds many, angular. 



This plant grows abundantly, both wild and cultivated, in the 

 mountainous forests north of the Kanara, Coorg and Wynaad on 

 the Malabar coast, at altitudes of from 2500 feet to nearly 5000 

 feet above the level of the sea. In 1888 the crop occupied 899 

 acres. The cardamoms of the Wynaad, which are esteemed the 

 best, are cultivated ; the spots chosen for the cardamom farms are 

 called Ela-Kandy, and are either level or gently sloping surfaces 

 on the highest range of the Ghauts after passing the first declivity 

 from their base.* It grows in a perfectly wild state in the forests 

 of Anamalai, Cochin, and Travancore, and between Travancore and 

 Madura ;t also at certain places in the hills which form the lower 

 part of the Ghauts in Cadutinada and other northern districts of 

 Malayata.:|: Before the commencement of the periodical rains in 

 June, the cultivators of the cardamom ascend the coldest and 

 most shady sides of a woody mountain ; a tree of uncommon size 



* Trans. Lin. Soc, x. p. 237. 



t Hamilton [Buchanan], Journey through Mysore, Canara and Malabar, 

 ii. p. 336. 



X Hamilton op. cit., ii. p. 510. 



