AMOMUM.

689

^’ ms ]- Capsule an inch and half long, half an inch in diameter, oblongii 0ll ^'angular, scarcely ovate, beaked, of a dark reddish-brown, ribbed, coriaceous,

ev en minute deciduous bristly hairs. When broken it is very powerfully aromatic,

to a ter being kept twenty years, with a peculiar pepper-like flavour, rather too strong''"Und^t rCCa ^ e ' & ee d s numerous, enveloped in membranes formed of the dried pulp,ex tr s , or somewhat angular, of a shining golden brown, minutely rough or granulated,

le v hot and acrid (Smith). Native of Guinea, about Sierra Leone .

A. Melegueta, Roscoe.

t a( li I erec t, six feet high, heaves two-ranked, subsessile, narrow-lanceolate. Scape^ewU C ° Vered at l bc base with about seven imbricated, ovate, concave, pointed, andClou- ' at ? us P'date bracts. Calyx cylindrical, of one leaf, green, spotted with red.

cylindrical, expanding in a double border ; outer border in three sections, thebro at j e sect ion largest, ovate, the two others linear and opposite; inner lip very large,c reet crenate, pale yellow at the base, crimson at the margin. Filament strong.

Point*., vate > terminating in three lobes, middle lobe erect and bifid, the other twoAnthf - and recurved; a pair of hornlets on the filament, near the base of the lip.Jrilow 1U U '° l°l )es i seated in front of the filament, a little below the apex, brightbase I, ’ Cityle erect, tubular, expanding into a dilated stigma or cup, supported at thehr e , ? l ' vo linear processes, about an inch in length, and one-eighth of an inch inl’laiit 1 V' 1 '' niue l | l b e largest specimen of this part observable in any scitamineousSu 1>mt i ■ P su ^ e cylindrical, coriaceous, six inches long, yellow, spotted with orange,co]|L ,, at the base by the large ovate, concave, cuspidate bracts, and containing aai ‘illefl - a nr . rece P tac ' e about four inches long, covered with seeds beautifully arranged,1’iSi'll 1 •’ Hnd ^bedded in a tomentose substance. Seeds angular, light brown, with afro ]n 'yj n ' <mia, ic and grateful flavour (Roscoe). Cultivated at Demerara: probably

are I;Sf TtIPI rox -—l n the Sloanian Collection of the British Museum several capsules of Malaguetta pepper, one of which is labelled

llG - 124. Fro. 125.

a l J sules of Malaguetta Pepper.

cm.

“ Melegetta, a pod from Guinea .”(Fig. 124 is taken from one ofthese). They are two and a halfinches long, and one inch in dia-meter, ovate or ovate-oblong, co-riaceous, wrinkled as if shrivelled,yellowish-brown. The seeds areidentical with those called, in theshops, Guinea grains, or grains ofparadise. Are these capsules thefruit of A. Melegueta, Roscoe ?

In Dr. Burgess’s collection ofMateria Medica, in the College ofPhysicians, is a capsule smallerthan the preceding, oval or oval-oblong, somewhat reddish-brown,wrinkled longitudinally. (Fig. 125is taken from it.) The seeds veryclosely resemble, if they be notidentical with, the grains of para-dise of the shops. They have alsothe same vehemently hot taste. Thiscapsule appears to me to be thefruit of A. Grana paradisi, Smith.