128 ORCHIDACE^E 



Fragments of spiral tracheae with accompanying bast fibers which 

 are very slightly if at all lignified, relatively few or absent. 



VARIETIES. Malabar, the choicest, plump, light, and buff color; Aleppo, 

 mostly short and greenish. These two kinds are mostly imported 

 into the United States. Besides these, there are Madras cardamom, 

 oblong, alternated above, pale in color; Ceylon, from Elettaria major, 

 i% in. (40 mm.) long, triangular, prolonged into a beak, dark gray 

 and brown. This latter variety is of inferior flavor. Round carda- 

 mom, from Amomum cardamomum of Siam and Java, and A. globosum 

 and A. aromaticum (Bengal cardamom) are known; also winged Java 

 cardamom, from A. maximum. This latter variety has from 9 to 

 12 wings from the base of the apex, but the Bengal has 9 wings near 

 the apex. 



Powder. Pale brownish-gray (of seed). Characteristic elements: (Powder of 

 whole fruit.) Parenchyma of pericarp, thin- walled with prismatic calcium oxalate 

 crystals; the pericarp valueless as an aromatic; parenchyma of endosperm with oil, 

 proteid granules and starch, spherical or angular, simple or compound (i to 4 /* in 

 diam.); seed coat with dark brown stone cells (15 to 20 n in diam.), inner wall 

 thickened; pericarp has bast fibers very slightly lignified; outer epidermal cells 

 elongated (20 to 30 ft in diam.), tangential walls thickened; oil cells with suberized 

 walls; Ceylon differs from Malabar in containing trichomes and in the measure- 

 ments of the elements. 



CONSTITUENTS. The pericarp is almost inert, consisting chiefly of lignin. 

 The seeds abound in a fixed oil (10 per cent.) and a volatile oil (4.6 

 per cent.), consisting of terpene, diterpene, and terpineol, with rhom- 

 bohedric masses of albuminous matter, gum. Ash, not exceeding 

 8 per cent. 



Powder (of seed). Characteristics: See Part iv, Chap. I, B. 



ACTION AND USES. Aromatic, stimulant, stomachic, and carminative, 

 used principally in this country as an adjuvant. Dose: 5 to 15 gr. 

 (0.3 to i Gm.). 



OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS. 



Tinctura Cardamom! (20 per cent.),. . . Dose: i to 2 fl. dr. (4 to 8 mils). 



Tinctura Cardamom! Composita (2.5 

 per cent., with cassia cinnamon, cara- 

 way, and cochineal), I to 3 fl. dr. (4 to 12 mils). 



83. GRANUM PARADISI. GRAINS OF PARADISE. GUINEA GRAINS. The seeds 

 of Amo'mum gra'na paradi'si and Amo'mum melegue'ta. Small, roundish, 

 somewhat cuneiform; externally finely warty, reddish-brown; internally white. 

 When rubbed, they emit a feebly aromatic odor; taste hot and peppery. 

 Action somewhat resembles pepper. 



ORCHIDACE^;. Orchis Family 



Perennial herbs, sometimes parasitic, with perfect, irregular, and usually showy 

 flowers, the stigma having a broad, glutinous surface (except in Cypripedium); 

 the (usually single) anther is sessile on the style; it is 2-celled, each cell containing 

 one or more waxy masses of pollen, pollinia (Fig. 115). 



