CHAP x CARDAMOMS 325 



spathulate, clawed with waved margins, pure white with 

 violet-purple streaks radiating from the centre. The 

 fruit is globose, ovoid, or oblong, more or less three-sided 

 and slightly ribbed, pale buff when ripe. It splits into 

 three valves of a thin papery texture, each cell of the 

 fruit containing 5 to 7 dark brown aromatic seeds. The 

 seeds are about 2 lines long, irregularly angular, and 

 transversely wrinkled. There is a good deal of variation 

 in the size and form of the fruit, and they are sorted in 

 commerce according to their forms. 



There are two distinct forms or varieties of the 

 plant, viz. var. minus, the Malabar cardamom, a 

 taller plant with narrower and less firm leaves and 

 globose fruits from -J to $$ in. long, greyish yellow or 

 buff in colour. This is confined to Southern India. 

 Var. majus with shorter stems, broader leaves and 

 oblong fruit, from 1 to 2 in. long, and rather narrower 

 than the Malabar fruit, distinctly three-sided, often 

 arched and dark greyish brown when dry, the seeds 

 larger and more numerous, and less aromatic. This is 

 the Ceylon cardamom, and is peculiar to that country. 

 (This variety of cardamom must not be confused with 

 the Cardamomum majus of Arabia, a name applied by 

 some old writers to Amomum Korarima, a native of 

 Africa and a very different plant.) 



Mr. T. C. Owen, in his Notes on Cardamom Cultiva- 

 tion in Ceylon, mentions three varieties which he calls 

 the indigenous Ceylon, the Malabar, and the Mysore. 

 He says that the easiest method of distinguishing the 

 first two is by the colour of the stem, which in 

 the Malabar plant is green or whitish at the base, 

 while that of the Ceylon form is distinguished by a 

 pink tinge deeply marked at the base, and more or less 

 traceable up the leaf-stalk for the whole way (presum- 

 ably he means the leafy stem). This character forms 

 an excellent one for selecting seedlings. 



The Mysore form is known by its robust habit, 

 larger and coarser leaves of a darker green, hard and 

 smooth on the under surface, and not soft and velvety. 



