CARDAMOM. 119 



Cardamoms vaiy in size, shape, colour and aroma. The sort 

 most preferred are commercially known as " Malabar shorts," these 

 are shortly ovoid, obtuse at the ends, or nearly globular, from 

 three-tenths to half-an-inch in length. The second sort, called 

 " Madras shortlings " or " Short-longs," taper to a point at the 

 extremities, are lighter in colour and shipped at Madras and 

 Pondichery ; their length is from seven-tenths to three-quarters of 

 of an inch. There is a sort called " Long-longs," but they are 

 rarely imported. Another variety known as " Aleppy shorts " 

 have a peculiar greenish tint and are imported from Calicut and 

 Mangalore. 



Cardamom seeds are best preserved in their pericarps until 

 required for actual use. 



The Ceylon Cardamom is the Elattaria cardamomum, Maton, 

 var majov,^ sometimes referred to as Var. /3, and called by the 

 Singhalese Enscd. The plant is distinguished by its greater height 

 and the elongated shape of its fruit. It was formerly described as 

 a distinct species, under the name of ElcUtaria major, but on 

 careful examination, it is not found to possess any botanical 

 character warranting it being pronounced anything but a mere 

 variety of the typical plant. It is only known in Ceylon. The 

 capsule is lanceolate-oblong, acutely triangular, more or less 

 curved, with flat and ribbed sides, about an inch-and-a-half or two 

 inches long and about one-third to a quarter-of-an-inch broad. 

 At one extremity is sometimes found the long, cylindrical, 

 permanent, 3-lobed calyx, and at the other end the fruit-stalk, 

 which is sometimes branched. The pericarp is coriaceous, tough, 

 of a dirty white or yellowish ash colour, 3-celled. The seeds are 

 larger and more numerous than in the Malabar variety, and are 

 angular, rugged, of yellowish-red tinge and a peculiar odour and 

 taste very distinct from the foregoing, having some resemblance to 

 that of mace and elemi. 



It should not be confused with the " Greater cardamom " of 

 Bengal and Nepal, which is the Amomum suhidatum, hereafter 

 described. 



The total area of land in India under cardamom cultivation 



* Dr. Trimen, Systematic Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of 

 Ceylon. 



