644 ZINGIBERACEiE. 



A well-marked variety, differing chiefly in the elongated form and 

 large size of its fruits, is fonnd wild in the forests of the central and 

 southern provinces of Ceylon. It was formerly regarded as a distinct 

 species under the name of Elettaria major, but careful observation of 

 growing specimens has shown that it possesses no characters to warrant 

 it being considered more than a variety of the typical plant, and it is 

 therefore now called E. Cardamomum var. /3. It is only known to occur 

 in Ceylon, where the ordinary cardamom of Malabar is not found except 

 as a cultivated plant.^ 



History — Cardamoms, Eld, are mentioned in the writings of 

 Susruta, and hence may have been used in India from a remote period. 

 It is not unlikely that in common with ginger and pepper they reached 

 Europe in classical times, although it is not possible from the descriptions 

 that have come down to determine exactly what was the KapSa/mcojuov 

 of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, or the "Ajuloo/ulov of the last-named 

 writer. The Amo7)iU7ii, AmoTnis and Cardam,omum of Pliny are also 

 doubtful, the description he gives of the last being unintelligible as 

 applied to anything now known by that name. 



In the list of Indian spices liable to duty at Alexandria, circa A.D. 

 17G-180 (see Appendix, A), Amomum as well as Cardamonium is 

 mentioned. St. Jerome names AmomuTn together with musk, as per- 

 fumes in use among the voluptuous ecclesiastics of the 4th century .^ 



Cardamoms are named by Edrisi* about A.D. 1154 as a production of 

 Ceylon, and also as an article of trade from China to Aden; and in the 

 same century they are mentioned together with cinnamon' and cloves 

 (p. 282) as an import in Palestine by way of Acre, then a trading city 

 of the Levant.^ 



The first writer who definitely and correctly states the country of 

 the cardamom appears to be the Portuguese navigator Barbosa^ (1514), 

 who frequently names it as a production of the Malabar coast. Garcia 

 de Orta^ mentions the shipment of the drug to Europe; he also ascer- 

 tained that the larger sort was produced in Ceylon. The Malabar 

 cardamon plant was figured by Rheede under its indigenous name of 

 Elettari? 



The essential oil of cardamoms was distilled before 1544 by Valerius 

 Cordus (see p. 526, note 1). 



Cultivation and Production — Although the cardamom plant grows 

 wild in the forests of Southern India, where it is commonly called 

 Ildchi, its fruits are largely obtained from cultivated plants. The 

 methods of cultivation, which vary in the different districts, may be 

 thus described: — 



1. Previous to the commencement of the rains the cultivators ascend 

 the mountain sides, and seek in the shady evergreen forests a spot where 

 some cardamom plants are growing. Here they make small clearings, in 



^ Thwaites, Enumeratio Plantarum Zey- by a pharmacist of Cairo, 13th century, 



lanice, 1864. 318. named Abul Mena, is quoted by Leclerc, 



2 *S'. Hieronymi Opera Omnia, ed. Migne, Histoire de la M6decine arahe, ii. (Paris, 



ii. (1845) 297, in Patrologice cursus com- 1876) 215. 

 pletus, vol. xxii. ^ Description of the Coasts of East Africa 



^ In the work quoted in the Ajjpendix, i. and Malabar, Hakluyt Society, 1866. 59. 



(1836) 73, 51.— It is questionable whether 64, 147. 154. etc. 

 Elettaria is intended at p. 51. ^ In the work quoted at p. 547, note 8. 



'' A long and curious article on cardamoms, ^ Uortus Malaharicus, xi. ( 1 692) tab. 4-5. 



