138 FRUITS 



Vanillin, the aldehyde of methylprotocatechuic acid, can be obtained 

 in colourless acicular crystals with a fragrant vanilla-like odour. It 

 also occurs in balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, benzoin, and other 

 drugs ; it is now prepared in large quantities from eugenol, the 

 principal constituent of clove oil. 



CARDAMOMS 



(Fructus Cardamomi) 



Source, &c. Cardamoms are the dried, nearly ripe fruits of Elet- 

 taria Cardamomum, Maton (N.O. Scitaminece) , a tall perennial, reed- 

 like plant that grows wild in the forests of southern India, especially 

 near the Malabar coast. It is cultivated there as well as in Ceylon, 

 the fruits of commerce being obtained from cultivated plants. 

 The plant produces near the root a long loose raceme of flowers, 



succeeded by small, inferior, cap- 

 sular fruits, which are cut from 

 the rachis in succession as they 

 mature, but before they are quite 

 ripe ; if they are left till quite ripe 

 they are liable to spring open 

 FIG. 79. Mysore Cardamoms. when they are dried and discharge 



Natural size. the seeds. They are then dried 



on trays in the open air, trimmed 



by machinery, graded by sieves, sorted to colour and finally bleached 

 in trays over burning sulphur. 



Cardamoms were well known to the Greeks and Romans, but 

 probably not the species now under consideration. 



I II 



Description. Cardamom fruits differ considerably in size and 

 shape. They vary usually from 1 to 2 cm. in length, the smallest 

 variety being frequently nearly globular in shape, while the longer 

 are ovate or oblong and more or less distinctly three-sided. They 

 are of a pale buff or yellowish colour, and nearly smooth or longitu- 

 dinally striated. The base is rounded and may bear the remains of the 

 stalk ; towards the apex they taper more or less abruptly, and are 

 sometimes crowned by a short beak formed of the remains of the 

 calyx. They are three-celled, and contain in each cell two rows of 

 small seeds attached to axile placentas. From good plump cardamom 

 fruits the seeds usually separate in a cohering mass from each cell. 

 They are a dark reddish brown, about 3 mm. in length, irregularly 

 angular, hard, and marked with transverse wrinkles, which are very 

 distinct when examined with a lens ; unripe seeds are paler in colour 

 and not so plump. The thin, colourless, membranous aril that covers 



