122 
plift's katfral history. 
[Book XII. 
however, more like that of the ivy, only that it is rounder and 
softer. The flower is purple, the root very similar to that of 
the Gallic nard, and the seed is like a grape. It is of a warm 
and vinous flavour, and blossoms twice a year, growing upon, 
hill sides that are densely shaded. The best kind is that found 
in Pontus, and the next best that of Phrygia ; that of Illyri- 
cum being only of third-rate quality. The root is dug up 
when it is just beginning to put forth its leaves, and then dried 
in the sun. It very soon turns mouldy, and loses its properties. 
There has, also, been lately found a certain herb in some parts 
of Greece, the leaves of which do not differ in the slightest 
degree from those of the Indian nard. 
CHAP. 28. AMOMUM. AMOMTS. 
The clustered amomum^° is very extensively used ; it 
grows upon a kind of wild vine that is found in India, though 
^Bome persons have been of opinion that it is borne by a shrub, 
resembling the myrtle in appearance, and about the same 
height as the palm. This plant, also, is plucked along with 
the root, and is carefully pressed together with the hands ; for 
it very soon becomes brittle. That kind is held in the highest 
esteem, the leaves of which bear a strong resemblance to those 
of the pomegranate, being free from wrinkles, and of a red 
colour. The second quality is that which is of a pallid hue. 
That which has a green, gr.assy appearance, is not so good, 
and the white is the worst of all ; it assumes this appearance 
when old. The price of clustered amomum is sixty denarii per 
pound, but in dust it sells at only forty-nine. Amomum is pro- 
duced, also, in that part of Armenia which is known as Otene ; 
as, also, in Media and Pontus. It is adulterated with the leaves 
of the pomegranate and a solution of gum, which is employed 
^0 It is by no means settled among naturalists, what plant the Amomum 
of the ancients was ; indeed, there has been the greatest divergence of 
opinion. Tragus takes it to be a kind of bindweed : Matthioli, the Piper 
JEthiopicum of Linnaeus : Cordus and Scaliger, the rose of Jericho, the 
Anastatica hierocuntica of Linnaeus. Gesner thinks it to have been the 
garden pepper, the Solanum bacciferum of Tournefort: Caesalpiuus the 
cubeb, the Piper cubeba of Linnaeus : Plukenet and Sprengel the Cissus 
vitiginea, while Fee and Paulet look upon it as not improbably identical 
with the Amomum racemosum of Linnaeus. The name is probably derived 
from the Arabic hahmama, the Ai'abians having first introduced it to the 
notice of the Greeks. 
