CARDAMOM 125 



Description. Rhizome nearly cylindrical, distinctly branched, 

 from 2 to 10 cm. in length and from 7 to 20 mm. in diameter; exter- 

 nally reddish-brown, annulate from circular scars of bud scales, 

 otherwise nearly smooth and but slightly wrinkled; fracture very 

 tough; cut surface grayish-brown, porous with a very thick cortex, 

 and with numerous brownish-red secretion cells and yellowish vas- 

 cular bundles; odor aromatic; taste aromatic and pungent. 



Inner Structure. (Fig. 53.) An epidermal layer of several rows 

 of small brownish cells; cortex with starch-bearing parenchyma, 

 numerous brownish secretion cells and collateral vascular bundles, 

 each surrounded by a ring of thick-walled sclerenchymatous fibers; 

 endodermis with thin-walled cells and free from starch; the pith is 

 composed of cells similar to those in the cortex; the tracheae have 

 either porous walls or scalariform or reticulate thickenings; distrib- 

 uted throughout the parenchyma also occur non-suberized secretion 

 cells which contain a dark brown amorphous substance which is said 

 to resemble tannin or an altered product. 



Powder. Reddish-brown; starch grains numerous, ellipsoidal, 

 ovoid, more or less spatulate (Fig. 53), from 0.010 to 0.045 mm. in 

 length, having a circular point of origin at the broad end and indis- 

 tinct lamellae ; numerous yellowish-red secretion cells being frequently 

 separated from the starch-bearing parenchyma; parenchyma with 

 porous walls and occasionally without starch; the walls of the 

 tracheae with adjoining sclerenchymatous fibers are non-lignified ; 

 cork cells wanting. 



Constituents. From 0.5 to 1.0 per cent of a cineol-containing 

 volatile oil; a soft acrid resin containing a pungent principle, galan- 

 gol; three yellowish crystalline principles, alpinin, galangin, and 

 csempferid, each occurring to the extent of about 0.1 per cent; starch 

 from 20 to 25 per cent; and ash, containing manganese, 4 per cent. 



CARDAMOMUM. Cardamom. The fruit of Elettaria Carda- 

 momum (Syn. E. repens) (Fam. Zingiberacese), a perennial herb 

 indigenous to Indo-China and cultivated near the Malabar Coast and 

 in Ceylon. The commercial article is obtained from wild plants 

 growing in the southern part of the western coast of Indo-China. 

 The fruit is gathered in autumn either the entire spike, when some 

 of the fruits have matured, or the full-grown fruits are cut from the 

 rachis in succession as they ripen; they are bleached by exposure to 

 the sun, sometimes sulphurous acid or steam being also used, after 

 which they are dried and freed from extraneous matter. Seeds 

 which have been discharged from the capsules are inferior to those 



