108 SOME RARE KINDS OF CARDAMOM. 



1855. i n to valves ; in the shrivelled fruits it appears stronger, from its 

 Galanga close adherence to the mass of seeds. Upon removal of the 

 Cardamom. p er j car p the seeds are seen united in a three-lobed mass, com- 

 pletely invested in a whitish integument, each cell or lobe con- 

 taining, usually, two seeds, placed one above the other. The 

 seeds are ash-coloured, flattish and somewhat three-cornered ; 

 finely striated externally towards a large conspicuous hilum 

 which faces the wall of the capsule, and which is connected 

 with the axillary placenta by a long, broad funiculus. Each 

 seed is nearly surrounded by a tough aril ; opposite the Jiilum 

 a scar-like depression is observable. The seeds have a pungent, 

 burning taste and aroma resembling the Larger Galangal Root ; 

 the pericarp is similarly aromatic and biting. 



Although I have not data for determining with certainty from 

 what plant the Galanga Cardamom is derived, I am induced, 

 after a careful examination, to refer it to the Great Galangal, 

 Alpinia Galanga, Willd. (Amomum Galanga, Loureiro ; Lanc- 

 quas, Kumphius.) I do so, because 1. The name Kaou-leang- 

 keang 1 (Cdo Ledm Kiam of Loureiro) or Leang-keang is the 

 Chinese name of Alpinia Galanga. 2. The fruit in question 

 substantially agrees with the descriptions of Kumphius, 2 Lou- 

 reiro, 3 and especially of Koxburgh.* 



I have examined several specimens of Alpinia Galanga in 

 the herbarium of Sir W. J. Hooker ; none, however, in fruit. The 

 figures of the plant, also, with the exception of a very poor 



Referred to 

 the Great 

 Galangal. 



1 The syllable tsze merely signifies seed or fruit. 



- Herbarium Amboinense, lib. 8, c. 9, p. 144. 



8 Flora Cochinchinensis (ed. Willd.), t. i., p. 7. I am aware that Loureiro 

 here describes the fruit as trivalvis, but in an earlier description of Amomum 

 Galanga, communicated by Loureiro himself to Sir Joseph Banks, this word 

 is omitted. It was with much interest that I discovered this description of 

 A. Galanga in a little MS. volume in the handwriting of Loureiro, preserved 

 in the British Museum. The volume, which is the MS. No. 93, Catal. 

 Biblioth., tome iiL, p. 35, is thus entitled :Nova Genera Plantarum in 

 Cochinchind sponte nascentia descripta juxta methodum clar Linncei; 

 simulgue cum veris plantis missa in Angliam a Botanophilo Joanne de 

 Loureyro. An. 1773. The specimen of A. Galanga is unfortunately not 

 now to be found. 



4 Asiatick Researches, vol. xi. (1810), p. 318. Flora Indica (ed. Carey) 

 vol. i., p. 69, 61. 



