CARDAMOM. 123 



larger than Grains of Paradise, angular, dull dirty-brown, with a 

 shallow groove on one side, internally white, of aromatic taste like 

 cardamoms, but less powerful. The leaves of this plant are 

 alternate, petioled, lanceolar and linear-lanceolar, acute, smooth 

 above, villous beneath, with many large parallel veins ; from two 

 to three feet long and about six inches broad ; w^hen dry the 

 underside appears to be more closely covered with most beautiful 

 soft seriaceous down than when fresh. The floral spikes are 

 radical and short, their flower-bearing apex being only just above 

 the earth ; below the flowers they are covered with large oval 

 concave scales. The exterior border of the corolla is three-bordered 

 as usual in the genus, but in this species they all converge upward 

 into one helmet over the anther and stigma. The labellum is 

 entire, expanding, oblong, marked with a yellow stripe down the 

 middle, its margins are waved and crenulate. The staminal 

 filament is short. From the month of the tube of the corolla, 

 opposite to its interior border, on each side of its insertion, is a 

 small hornlet. The anther double or two-lobed and crowned with 

 a beautiful broad semi-lunar crest. This plant is cultivated in 

 Java for the sake of the v^ry agreeable flavour of the pulp of its 

 fruit. 



A. aromaticum, Eoxb., "Flor. Ind.," i., p. 44. "Bengal 

 Cardamoms." This species was confounded by Pereira with 

 A. cardamomum Lin. and A. xanthoides, Wallich, also with 

 A. maximum, Eoxb., above described. It is a native of the valleys 

 on the eastern frontier of Bencral, where it blossoms during the 

 hot season, before the periodical rains begin, and the fruit ripens 

 in September, when it is carefully gathered by the natives and sold 

 to the druggists as " Morung elachi " or " cardamom," though the 

 seed vessel of this species is very dissimilar in form to that of 

 other species. The seeds however are similar in shape and spicy 

 flavour. The Bengal cardamom is about an inch in length, ovoid, 

 and imperfectly triangular and somewhat conical in shape : its 

 lower extremity is rounded, and, as met with in commerce, 

 generally devoid of stalk. On the upper half of the capsule are 

 nine membranous wings which are very apparent when the dried 

 capsule is soaked in w^ater. The capsule terminates in a truncated 

 silky nipple, never extending as a tube. The pericarp is coarsely 

 striated and of a dark brown colour, which distinguishes it from 



