THE CLUSTER OR ROUND CARDAMOM.

687

^•ten by the natives (Roxburgh, op. cit.) Grows also in abundance one Malabar coast, where, especially at Travancore, large quantities ofec ula are extracted from the tubers (Ainslie, Mat. Indica , i. 19).Description.—U nder the name of East Indian Arrow-root I haveuud in commerce two kinds of fecula, both of which are imported fromCalcutta .

( j. White East Indian Arrow-root. —A fine white powder, readily•stingnishable, both by the eye and the touch, from West Indian Arrow-^.°h To the eye it somewhat resembles a finely-powdered salt (as•carbonate of soda or Rochelle salt). When pinched or pressed by theMgers, it wants the firmness so characteristic of West Indian Arrow-!* ot . and it does not crepitate to the same extent when rubbed betweenhe fingers.

0 Pale Buff-coloured East Indian Arrow-root. —In the form of powder,°f pulverulent masses, which are dirty or buffy white. Paddy husks,°ody fibre, and various impurities, are intermixed.

the microscope both kinds present the same appearance, from“ lc h it is probable that they are obtained from the same plant, but withJ'C'lual degrees of care. However, this is somewhat doubtful, as Dr.

°xburgh (FI. Indica , vol. i. p. 29) says that a fecula, like arrow-root, is1 ocured from several species of Curcuma , (as C. rubescens and C. leu-r ; the fecula of the latter is called Tikor ). The particles of East

th an aiT0w ' r00t are very unequal in size, but on the average largerg, aa those of West Indian arrow-root. They are compressed ovate disks,e( luently with little processes given off from their sides or pointedj-trernity. At their larger end there are faint indications of ruga; ana-°S^us to those of potatoe starch.

^OMeosnroN.—Not ascertained, but doubtless analogous to that of® s t Indian arrow-root.

Effects and Uses. —Analogous to those of the West Indian fecula.p S . commercial value, however, is very much below that of the latter.ls bought by starch-makers, and, therefore, is employed, I presume, in* n g starch.

Eak:

Arru/rnum Cardamo'mum, Linn.— The Cluster or Round Cardamom.

Seat. Syst. Monandria, Monogynia.

(Fructus . Cardamomum rotundum, Offic.)

History.—T he fruit of this plant is the"A/uwpov of Dioscorides (lib. i.El), the Amomi uva of Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. 28, ed. Valp.)0 t any. Gen. Char. — Inner limb of the corolla one-lipped. Filamenti a ted beyond the anther, with an entire or lobed crest. Capsule oftene c . e< ^’ three-celled, three-valved, Seeds numerous, arillate.— Herba-r . % ' s ‘ "Perennials, with articulated creeping rhizomes. Leaves in twol , s ’ Membranous, with their sheaths split. Inflorescence spiked, loosely^Heated, radical. (Blume, op. cit.)

ijj p - Char. — Leaves with short petioles, lanceolate. Spikes half im-0 ^cd in the earth, loosely imbricated with villous, lanceolate, acute,tU~^° We red bracts. Lip, with the anterior margin, tliree-lobed. Crest//'lobed- (Roxburgh.)

— Sumatra , Java, and other islands eastward to the Bay ofea gal. J