SOME RARE KINDS OF CARDAMOM. 105 



Mr. Lockhart. The capsules are mostly oval, some ovate-oblong, 1855t 

 and a few nearly spherical, pointed at the extremities, 6 to 10 Bitter-seeded 

 lines long. The pericarp is of a deep dusky-brown, coriaceous, ( ' ar amom< 

 devoid of hairs, beset longitudinally with interrupted ridges 

 usually about 18 in number; it has an agreeable aromatic smell 

 and taste. The seeds are obtusely angular and adhere firmly 

 together ; they are distinguished by an aromatic, litter, myrrJi- 

 like taste. 



There is a fine specimen of this Cardamom in the Muse*e 

 d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris. 



OVOID CHINA CARDAMOM. (FIG. 9.) 



Amomum medium. Loureiro, Flora Cochinchinensis, ed. Willd. Ovoid China 



(1793), tome i., p. 5. Cardamom. 



Cardamome ovoide de la Chine. Guibourt, Hist, des Drogues, 

 ed. 3, tome ii. (1836), p. 287. 



Ovoid China Cardamom. Pereira, Mem. of Mat. Med., Part 

 ii. (1840), p. 698, fig. 132 ; Mem. of Mat. Med., ed. 2, vol. ii., 

 (1842), p. 1035, fig. 202. 



Cardamome ovoide de la Chine. Guibourt, Hist, des Drogues, 

 e"d. 4, tome ii. (1849), p. 215, fig. 116. 



Ovoid China Cardamom (Alpinia alba, Koscoe). Pereira, 

 Mem. of Mat. Med., ed. 3, vol. ii. (1850), p. 1141, fig. 260. 



Cardamoma Chinensia oviformia ; Eiformige Chinesische 

 Kardamomen. Martiny, EncyHopddie der Med. Pharm. Natur- 

 alien und RohwaarenJcunde, Bd. ii. (1854), p. 775. 



rtt 



JP Tsaou-kwo. 



Professors Guibourt and Pereira have referred the Ovoid China 

 Cardamom to Amomum medium, Loureiro ; and, as I think, 

 with good reason ; but of the identity of this plant with Alpinia 

 alia, Eoscoe, the evidence, although generally admitted, is far 

 from conclusive. Loureiro's description is incomplete ; he did 

 not see fresh flowers of his Amomum medium, no specimen of 

 it exists in his herbarium, nor has a drawing of it been preserved. 



