CARDAMOMS. 107 



are rarely received, except in a pickled state. They are 

 much valued as a digestive condiment, especially by dys- 

 peptic persons ; and are often raised both for ornament and 

 use in this country. About 80 to 100 tons are sometimes 

 imported in one year; the imports are however very ir- 

 regular. , 



Cardamoms. Elettaria Cardamomum. (Nat. Ord. Zingi- 

 beracea.) (Plate XYI. fig. 81.) 



The seeds of several plants pass in the druggists' shops 

 under the general name of Cardamoms, but those of the 

 Elettaria above mentioned are the true officinal, small, or 

 Malabar Cardamoms. The uses of this seed are strictly 

 medicinal with us, and are usually described as Materia 

 Medica ; their use in medicine however is only that of a warm 

 aromatic stimulant spice ; and in India they are much used 

 as a favourite condiment for various kinds of food, forming, 

 according to Mr. White, an important accessory to the luxu- 

 ries of the inhabitants of India and other parts of Asia. 



The cardamom is a three-sided seed-pod, pointed at each 

 end, and about half an inch in length, of a pale straw-co- 

 lour, having the surface roughened with five longitudi- 

 nal furrows, and a deeper one in the middle of each side ; 

 the diameter is about half the length, and the seeds are 



