ALPINIA yel MATONIA CARDAMOMUM. 
THE LESSER OR MALABAR CARDAMOM. 
Class I. MONANDRIA. — Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, SCITAMINEH2. THE GINGER TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) the partial panicle with its germ and flower viewed in front ; Fig. ( b ) the cardamon pod. 
The Lesser or Malabar Cardamom has a whitish perennial, annulated, tuberous root, sending off many long 
slender fibres. The cultivated plant does not flower tiil it is four years old. The stems which emerge from 
the root, are tuberous, clubbed, and jointed at the base for two or three inches ; the lower part giving out 
viviparous shoots, the upper part panicles. They are erect, and tapering as the continued sheaths send off 
the leaves ; when in bearing, they are from six to ten feet high, and from eight and twelve to thirty' in 
number, smooth, with varying shades of glossy green, and pale at the base; which distinguishes this species 
from a congener frequent on the same site, but with a red or fuscous base. The leaves are alternate and 
sheathing, elliptic-lanceolate, pointed, from nine inches to two feet and a half long, and from one to five 
inches broad, spreading, dark green, smooth, entire, pale sea-green beneath, and glossy above, with a silky 
softness. The midrib of the leaf on the upper surface is channelled, on the under keeled. The flowers are 
in panicles, which issue laterally from the tuberous jointed base of each stem near the root. The panicles 
are much branched, jointed, a span long, smooth, many-flowered, and spread horizontally on the ground. 
The bracteas are alternate, ovate, oblong, acute, at the base of each partial stalk, withering; the partial 
ones solitary, tubular, closely embracing the germen and calyx, almost as long as the latter, and resembling 
it in shape, but deciduous. The calyx is monophyllous, double, tubular, cylindrical, and 2 or 3-cleft at the 
margin. The corolla is monopetalous, and funnel-shaped; tube longer than the calyx, cylindrical, slender, 
curved; outer limb in three equal, oblong, recurved segments, inner a somewhat obovate, large, notched 
crenate, undivided lip, with a short claw. The filament is stout, erect, with a lanceolate, acute, horizontal 
lobe, simply notched at the summit, without any crest or extension beyond the anther, which consists of 
two oblong, distant lobes, about half the length of the filament. The germen is inferior, nearly globular, 
having a slender thread-shaped style lying close to the filament between the lobes of the anther, and bearing 
a funnel-shaped, obtusely triangular stigma. The capsule is 3-celled, with three cariaceous valves ; when 
fresh it is fleshy, smooth, elliptic-oblorig, or somewhat ovate, but becoming bluntly triangular, coriaceous 
and pale brown, when dried. The seeds are numerous, roundish, somewhat angular, rough, each enveloped 
in a fine membranous evanesent tunic. The receptaclq is central, shorter than the capsule, when dry, and 
originally connected with the central ridge of the valve. 
The Cardamom Farms. — “The spots chosen for these,” says Mr. White, “called in the Malabar 
language Ela- Kandy, literally signifying Cardamom plots, are either level or gentle sloping surfaces on the 
highest range of the Ghauts, after passing the first declivity from their base. The extent of climate hither- 
to known in Malabar to produce them, lies between ll c and 12° 30' north latitude, or thereabouts. 
“The months of February and March, are, on account of the prevailing dry weather, selected by the 
cultivators as the most proper for commencing their labours, the first part of which consists in cutting down 
the large and small trees promiscuously, leaving of the former, standing at nearly equal distances, certain 
tall and stately individuals, adapted to afford 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 disencumbered from the roots of the brushwood ; the large trees lie where they fall; the shrubs, 
roots, and grass are piled up in different small heaps, and their spontaneous and gradual decomposition 
fertilizes the space they cover. 
“The size of the Ela-Kandy is various. The largest Mr. White saw among fifty did not exceed sixty 
yards in diameter. Their form varies likewise, very commonly oblong or oval, but sometimes irregularly 
rounded. The variety in these respects is chiefly owing to the convenience of the standard or permanent 
trees for shade. Those with lofty, straight stems, extensive heads, and those that are in an adolescent state, 
and known to be long-lived, are preferred for this purpose, and left standing at fifteen or twenty yards from 
each other. Much more dimunitive plots are also cultivated by a race of Hill people called Kourchara and 
Cadura , who are not exactly slaves, but locally attached, and acknowledging certain obligations of a feudal, 
and perhaps reciprocal kind, to the Nairs in the neighbourhood. 
“After the operations now described, no further labour is bestowed for four years. At the revolution 
of the fourth rainy season, and towards its close, they look for a crop, and their hopes are rarely disappointed; 
