582 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



transverse section, lo to 17 mm. long, 6 to 8 mm. in diameter, 

 pericarp about 0.5 mm. thick; externally light brown or faintly 

 pink, apex slightly beaked, and with remnants of style, base 

 rounded, with scar of stalk, longitudinally striate, 3-grooved, 

 3-valved, 3-locular, dissepiments thin; seeds 15 to 18 in num- 

 ber, anatropous, irregularly angular, enclosed in a thin mem- 

 branous aril, about 3 mm. long, externally dark reddish-brown, 

 deeply wrinkled, embryo small, straight, endosperm and peri- 

 sperm distinct; odor aromatic; taste aromatic, pungent (Fig. 

 90, C). 



Mysore Cardamom. — Ovoid, somewhat oblong, white or very 

 light brown, 12 to 20 mm. long, 7 to 9 mm. in diameter, nearly 

 smooth or faintly striate longitudinally; seeds 9 to 12, and less 

 pungent than those of Malabar Cardamom. 



Inner Structure. — See Fig. 253. 



Constituents. — Volatile oil 4 to 5 per cent., with a pene- 

 trating but agreeable odor and a camphoraceous, burning taste; 

 fixed oil 10 per cent.; starch about 3 per cent.; calcium oxalate; 

 ash 4 to 6 per cent. The pericarp contains about 0.2 per cent, 

 of a volatile oil. 



Allied Plants. — Ceylon Cardamom is obtained from wild 

 plants of Elettaria major. The capsules are 2 to 4 cm. long and 

 about 10 mm. in diameter, distinctly triangular in transverse 

 section, deeply striate longitudinally and slightly pubescent. In 

 each loculus there are about 20 seeds, which are about 4 mm. long, 

 bitter and less aromatic than the official cardamom. 



The so-called bastard cardamoms are yielded by one or more 

 species of Amomum, but these rarely find their way to market. 



HUMULUS.— HOPS.— The fruit of Humulus Lupulus 

 (Fam. Moracese), a perennial herbaceous climber (Fig. 136), 

 indigenous to Europe, Asia and North America, and extensively 

 cultivated in England, Germany and various parts of the United 

 States, South America and Australia, where it is also naturalized 

 (p. 255). Hops are collected in September, when they are ripe, 

 carefully dried by means of artificial heat, and packed into bales 

 or sent loose into commerce. They are sometimes treated with 

 sulphur dioxide to improve the color and to prevent change of the 

 active principles. The development of the odor of valerianic 



