650 ZINGlBERACEiE. 



overlapping bracts, which are remarkably broad and truncate with a 

 sharp central claw, — very distinct from the much narrower ovate bracts 

 of A. aromaticum, as shown in Roxburgh's unpublished drawing of 

 that plant. 



The plant, which is unquestionably a species of Amomum, has not 

 yet been identified with any published description. We have to thank 

 Colonel Richard C. Lawrence, British Resident at Katmandu, for send- 

 ing us a fruit-scape in alcohol, some dried leaves, and also the drug 

 itself, — the last agreeing perfectly with specimens obtained through 

 other channels. 



The Nepal cardamom, the first account of which is due to Hamilton,^ 

 is cultivated on the frontiers of Nepal, near Darjiling. The plant is 

 stated by Col. Lawrence to attain 3 to 6 feet in height, and to be grown 

 on well-Avatered slopes of the hills, under the shelter of trees. The fruit 

 is exported to other parts of India. 



Java Cardamom — A well-marked fruit, produced by Anwiiiuni 

 jiiaximum Roxb., a plant of Java. The fruits are arranged to the 

 number of 30 to 40 on a short thick scape, and form a globose grouj), 

 4 inches in diameter. They are stalked, and of a conical or ovoid form, 

 in the fresh state as much as IJ inches long by 1 inch broad. Each 

 fruit is provided with 9 to 10 prominent wings, i of an inch high, 

 running from base to apex, and coarsely toothed except in their 

 lowest part. The summit is crowned by a short, withered, calycinal 

 tube. 



Mr. Binnendyk, of the Botanical garden of Buitenzorg, in Java, who 

 has kindly supplied us with fine specimens of A. maxi7nu7n, as well as 

 with an admirable coloured drawing, states that the plant is cultivated, 

 and that its fruits are sold for the sake of their agreeable edible pulp. 

 We do not know whether the dried fruits or the seeds are ever exported. 

 Pereira confounded them with Bengal and Nepal cardamoms. 



Kovarima Cardamom — The Arab Physicians were acquainted with 

 a sort of cardamom called Heil, which was later known in Europe, and 

 is mentioned in the most ancient printed pharmacopoeias as Cardamo- 

 m^um majus^ a name occurring also in Valerius Cordus and Mattiolus. 

 Like some other Eastern drugs, it gradually disappeared from European 

 commerce, and its name came to be transferred to Grains of Paradise, 

 which to the present day are known in the shops as Semiina Carda- 

 momi majorw. 



The true CardamoTnurti majus is a conical fruit,^ in size and shape 

 not unlike a small fig reversed, containing roundish angular seeds, of 

 an agreeable aromatic flavour, much resembling that of the Malabar 

 cardamom, and quite devoid of the burning taste of grains of paradise. 

 Each fruit is perforated, having been strung on a cord to dry ; such 

 strings of cardamoms are sometimes used by the Arabs as rosaries. 

 The fruit in question is called in the Galla language Korarima, but it 

 is also known as Gurdgi spice, and by its Arabic names of Heil and 



^ Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, Edin. '* Figured in Pereira, Materia Medica ii. 



1819. 74-75. part i. (1855) 250, and already in Mattioli's 



- As the Tesaurus Aromatariorwn, print- Commentar. in Dioacorid. lib. i. (1558) 27. 

 ed at Milan in 1496, in which it is called 

 Heil or Gardamomum majus. 



