MATONIA CARDAMOMUM. 
117 
named from the Mdlealic word, Elettari,* the appellation given to 
this plant on the coast of Malabar, where it is produced in great 
abundance. t 
The name (Matonia Cardamomum) by which this plant is now 
distinguished in the London Pharmacopoeia, we learn, was suggested 
by the late Sir J. E. Smith, in honour of Dr. Maton.J The carda- 
mom seeds imported into Europe, have been distinguished by the 
names of Cardamomum Majus,§ Medium, and Minus, (the former of 
which is now better known under the name of Grains of Paradise) ; 
but whether either of these is the Amomum Verum of the ancient 
Greeks, we cannot satisfactorily ascertain. 
For the following account of the cultivation of the cardamom 
plant, as practised at Malabar, we are indebted to Mr. White's paper 
on the subject,|| and which, we presume, will not be uninteresting 
to our readers. 
" The spots chosen (for these plantations or farms) are either level 
or gentle sloping surfaces on the highest range of the GhaAts, after 
passing the first declivity from their base. The extent of climate 
hitherto known to produce them, lies between 11° and 12° 30' north 
latitude, or thereabouts. The months of February and March arp, 
on account of the prevailing dry weather, selected as the most 
proper for commencing their labours ; the first consists in cutting 
down the large and small trees promiscuously, leaving of the former 
standing, at nearly equal distances, certain tall and stately indi" 
viduals, adapted to that degree of perpendicular shade which 
experience teaches them to be most favourable for the future crops. 
The grass and weeds are then cleared away, and the ground disen- 
cumbered from the roots of the brushwood ; the large trees lie where 
they fall ; the shrubs, roots, and grass, are filled up into different 
small heaps, and their spontaneous and gradual decomposition ferti- 
lizes the space they cover. 
• Originally giren to this tribe of plants by Van RUeide, .in his Hortus Malabaricus* 
—Ed. 
■f AiDslie's Materia Indica, vol. i. 
t We are inclined to think that the modern name (Matonia) given to this plant, is 
calculated to create botanical confusion, there being but little doubt but it is the identical 
Amomam Repens of Sonnerat, and Elletari of Van Rheide. — Ed. 
§ The Amomum Grana Paradisi of Linnaeus. The seeds of this species of Amomam 
are considerably more pungent, but less fragrant, than the officinal cardamoms ; they are 
seldom prescribed medicinally, but we have known them used by druggists, as a cheap 
sabstitute, in compounding the officinal preparations of the pharmacopoeias.— £(/. 
II Transactions of the Linntcafl Society, vol. x. 
