CAEDAMOMS. 



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. 



Caedamoms. Mettaria Cardamommn, (Nat. Ord. Zingi- 

 beracece.) (Plate XVI. fig. 81.) 



The seeds of several plants pass in the druggists^ shops 

 under the general name of Cardamoms^ but those of the 

 Mettaria 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 

 Medicaj 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, formings 

 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 



