CHAPTER X 
CARDAMOMS 
There are several plants of the order Scitamineae 
which produce spices known as cardamoms, and as such 
are, occasionally at least, known in trade. By far the 
most important, however, is the plant known as 
Elettaria Cardamomum, the Malabar and Ceylon carda- 
moms, and this plant will here be discussed first, as it 
supplies the greatest part of the cardamoms of commerce 
and is apparently the only one ever cultivated. 
Elettaria Cardamomum^ Maton. 
The Malabar or lesser cardamom is a herbaceous 
plant belonging to the order of gingers {Scitamineae). 
It has a tolerably thick, rather woody rhizome, from 
which arises a number of leafy stems about 7 to 9 ft. 
tall, forming often a thick clump. The leaves are 
lanceolate acuminate, dark green, glabrous, or more or 
less pubescent above and puberulous beneath, 1 to 3 ft. 
long, and 3 to 6 in. across, sheathing at the base, and 
villous at the top of the sheath. The flowering stems 
rise from the root-stock or rhizome, and are 2 or 3 ft. 
long, slender with rather large green bracts, and 
numerous flowers in short 2 to 3 - flowered racemes. 
They open singly or two or more at a time, and are 
rather attractive. The calyx tube is green and in. 
long, and the corolla lobes, narrow and spreading, are 
pale green, \ in. long ; the lip is f in. long, obovate, 
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