AMOMUM. 



charadler. The rooi i-. pafenuidl, lubeious, jointed, and 

 fomcwhat creeping, with ftrong and deep fibres. SteTns at 

 l;aft biennial, ere£t, fimple, invefted with the (heaths of 

 the two-ranked, fimple, elliptic-oblong, ftriated, vertical 

 Icavis. Spikes invariably radical, fimple, rather lax, ftalked, 

 their ftalks fcaly. BraBeas large, concave, coriaceous, more 

 or lefs clofely imbricated, iingle-flowered. Flowers large 

 and handfome, white or reddifh, remarkable for the broad, 

 rounded, undulated, generally crenate lip, often yello\vi(h 

 at the bafe. Capf tiles large, with verj- num.erous, in general 

 powerfully aromatic, or very pungent, feeds. Every part 

 of the plant is commonly aromatic. We have improved our 

 knowledge of the fruit., and the nature of the tunic of the 

 feeds, from Dr. Roxburgh's obfervations in India. Gsertner 

 ipeaks of the capfuh as not burlling, becaufe he had chiefly 

 examined fpecimens gathered before they were ripe, like all 

 the Cardamoms of the druggifts' ftiops, fome of which 

 belong to the genus before us. The fame able author has 

 alfo miftaken the top for the bottom, in his figure called 

 A. fylvejlre. 



We know not how it has happened that only one fpecies 

 of Amomum appears in Hort. Keiu. A. Afzelii ; with 

 another, A. grandiflorum, (piiblifhed long before) in the 

 Addenda, to that work. A. Granum-Paradiji, raifed from 

 leeds brought from Sierra Leone by Dr. Afzehus, has long 

 been cultivated in England, though we have never heard of 

 Its flowering ; and there are feveral more in the fjme pre- 

 dicament. They are ftove plants, requiring a confiderable 

 degree of heat. No coUeftion perhaps is fo rich in this 

 genus, or in the whole natural order, as that of the Botanic 

 Garden at Liverpool, where the plants have every advantage 

 of /kill of cultivation, and where nothing that may occur, 

 relative to their growth or hiftory, can efcape the eye of 

 that illuftrious vmter and botanift, who firft reduced them 

 to order. 



All the known fpecies appear to be natives either of 

 equinoftial Africa, Madagafcar, or the Eaft Indies ; nor 

 .Save we any from America, or the Weft Indies. 



1. A. Cardamomum. Clufter Cardamom, or True Amo- 

 mum. Linn. Sp. PI. 2. Willd. n. 7. Loureir. Cochinch. 3. 

 Retz. Obf. fafc. 3. 59. Rofc. n. I. Roxb. n. 1. (A. 

 n. 2 ; Linn. Mat. Med. i. A. verum ; Ger. Em. 1548. 

 f. 6. Amomum ; Dale Pharmac. 277. Barrel. Ic. t. 571. 

 f. I. Amomo legitime degli antichi ; Pona Baldo, 50. 

 Cardamomum minus ; Rumph. Amboin. v. 5. 152. t. 65. 

 f. 1. Bont. Hift. Nat. \26, with a figure (the oblong 

 capfule excepted, which belongs to Cardamomum medium 

 of the (hops). Zingiber minus; G:ertn. t. 12. f. 6.) — 

 Leaves lanceolate. Spikes lax, many-flowered. Brafteas 

 lanceolate, acute. Lip three-lobed. Creft of three, nearly 

 equal, ereft lobes. Capfule globular. — Native of the 

 Malay idands, where the inhabitants ufe the feeds as a fub- 

 ftitute for the Malabar, or Lefler, Cardamom. Dr. Charles 

 Campbell fent plants from Sumatra to the Calcutta garden, 

 where they bloflbm in May, juft before the rains begin. 

 Roxburgh. Rumphius fpeaks of this fpecies as cultivated 

 plentifullv, but not wild, in Amboyna and the neighbour- 

 ing iflands. It is certainly the true original Atnomum of 

 the {hops, ftiU to be met with at Venice and in other parts 

 of the fouth of Europe, tliough generally fupplanted by 

 the more valuable LefTer Cardamom, Amomum repens of 

 Scnnerat, which Linnaeus confounded herewith, and of 

 which we propofe to treat by the name of Elettari.^ 

 hereafter. Nothing is. more rare, v/ith colleftors of the 

 Materia Medica, than the capfules of this A. icrum in their 

 jiative clufters or fpikes. We v/ere fortunate enougli, after 

 ■anliicking the druggifts' Ihops at Marfeillcs and Venice, to 



meet with two or t].r?e I'jch fpecirr.er.s, accompanied bv 

 braSeas, very important as determining the identity of ihii 

 plant with the Linnsean fpecimens of A. Cardamomum. By 

 macerating ihe Jloivers of thefe laft, we have alfo afcertained 

 their ftrufture, which agrees with Dr. Roxburgh's account, 

 the funmit, or creft, of the Jilament being three-lobed. The 

 lateral lobes are fnort and ereft, not much elevated above 

 the central one ; neither are they tranfverfe, awl-(haped, 

 and elongated, as in A. Af-zelii, grandijlorum, and fome others. 

 The two lobes of the anther ftand near the edges of the 

 f lament, remote from each other, but meet round thejlyle. 

 Dr. Roxburgh fpeaks of the JIawer-Jpiies as even with the 

 earth. But however this may be, they are elevated above 

 the root, each on a fimple wavyjlali, two inches long, clothed 

 with fheathing, elliptical, ribbed, abrupt, barren fcalcs. 

 The fpiie is an inch or an inch and a half long, fometimes 

 two inches when in feed, with many pale, fmooth, imbri- 

 cated, elliptic-lanceolate braSeas, near an incli in length, 

 one to each Jloiuer. The germen, calyx, and common receptacU, 

 are hairy, or rather briftly. Capfules feffile, the fize of a 

 black currant, globular, fomewhat deprefled, obfcurely 

 three-lobed, ftriated, crowned with a blunt protuberant 

 fear. Seeds roundifli, angular, dotted, brown, aromatic 

 and pungent, refembhng in flavour the Elettaria, but left 

 powerful, and rather lefs agreeable. The leaves of this 

 fpecies are rather narrower than in others of the genus, 

 except perhaps the following ; but our leading diftinftioM 

 throughout muft. be taken from the braHeas, jlotuers, and 

 fruit. 



2. A. anguJlifoTium. Greatefl Cardamom, or Madagafcar 

 Amomum. Sonnerat Ind. Or. v. 2. 242. t. 137. Willd. 

 n. 6. Rofc. n. 2. Roxb. n. 2. (A. madagafcarienfe ; 

 Lamarck Dift. v. 1. 133. Cardamomum majus ; Matth. 

 Valgr. 25, (but not Dale Pharmac. 276.) Camer. Epit. 11. 

 f. I. Barrel. Ic. obf. 1 394. t. 971, the largeft fruit. 

 Grana Paradifi ; Ger. Em. 1542, the figure, as being 

 copied from Matthiolus, but not the defcription. (See aUo 

 Bauh. Hift. v. 2. 204, and Lob. Ic. v. 2. 204, where the 

 fame error is committed, as well as in Chabr. Stirp. 128.) — 

 Leaves lanceolate. Spikes capitate. Brafteas ovate. Lipobo- 

 vate, undivided. Lateral lobes of the creft tapering, horizontal. 

 Capfule ovate, pointed, ftriated. Seeds globular, abrupt 

 at the bafe. — Native of marftiy ground in Madagafcar, 

 where it was firft afcertained and figured by Sonnerat. It 

 is cultivated at the Mauritius, and from thence was carried 

 by captain Tennent to the Calcutta garden, where it 

 bioflbmed during the cool feafon. Dr. Roxburgh fays, 

 " the flowers poffefs a confiderable Ihare of fpicy fragrance, 

 and are Ihowy, the upper bra8eas, and exterior border of 

 the corolla, being red, and the large lip yellow." This 

 writer terms the leaves broad-lanceolate ; which does not 

 anfwer to Sonnerat's figure, name, or defcription, but per- 

 haps this circumftance is variable. The Jlower-Jlnlis rife 

 above the ground, and are feven or eight inches high, 

 clothed with tubular fcales. Flowers in a (hort crowded 



fpiie, with a concave braBea to each, near an inch and a 

 half long. The capful: ar.d feeds we have ah-eady defcribed, 

 (fee jWellegetta, ) where fome other fpecies are men- 

 tioned, which we fnall here attempt to arrange fyftcmati- 

 cally, but need not repeat the minute remarks there given. 



3. A. niacrofpermum. Laige-feedcd Guinea Amornum. 

 (Zingiber Melegueta ; G^rtn. t. 12.)— Spikes capit.ite. 

 Bracleas ovate, as long as the fruit. Capfule ovate, 

 pointed, fomewhat ftriated. Seeds obovate, with a pro- 

 minent, bordered, crenate fear.— Native of Sierra Leone, 

 in the buryin^-^^round of the fcttlcmcnt, from whence 

 feeds were brought us by profeffor Afzelius ; but having 



unluckily 



