THE GREAT-WINGED AMOMUM.

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V rec ~ va l v «l, ornamented with nine [seven to thirteen, Blume'], firm,° r h ragged (when old and dry), membranaceous wings. The seeds1 ssess a warm, pungent, aromatic taste, not unlike that of cardamoms,<1 by no means so grateful” (Roxburgh.) The Nepal cardamom,,^ibed by Dr. Hamilton (An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, ed.j .j i) is unquestionably identical with the Java cardamom. Dr. Ha-to n says, the plant yielding it “ is a species of Amomum, as that.] nus is defined by Dr. Roxburgh, and differs very much from the car-a »'oin of Malabar.”

—The Malay Islands (Roxburgh); Java (Blume). Cultivated inMountainous parts of Nepal , where it is propagated by cuttings ofe root [rhizome] ; the plants yield in three years, and afterwards give1 annual crop (Hamilton).

■’-’esciuption .—Greater Java Cardamoms (Cardamomi majores java-ty eS ’ .Th. Martius; Java Cardamoms, offic.; Nepal Cardamons Desiof Hindustan, Hamilton; the Bur a Elachee [i. e. Great Card-***] of Saharunpore,—the Bengal Cardamons of the Calcutta market,Royle; Cardamome Fausse-Maniguette, Guibourt) areoval or oval-oblong, frequently somewhat ovate, three-valved, from eight to fifteen lines long, and from four toeight lines broad, usually flattened on one side, convex onthe other, occasionally curved, sometimes imperfectlytlirce-lobed, and resembling in their form the pericarp ofthe cocoa-nut. Their colour is dirty greyisli-brown.They have a coarse, fibrous, aged appearance; are stronglyribbed, and when soaked in hot water become almostglobular, and present from nine to thirteen ragged, mem-branous wings, which occupy the upper half or three-fourths of the capsule, and are scarcely perceptible in thedried state of the pericarp. By the possession of wings,

129 .

0 ,

v « r dam°m,

st alk* tS * 00t " these cardamoms are distinguished from all others of com

Cc asir

merce, and hence might be called the ivinged cardamoms.tj t is ionally the footstalk is attached, with, now and then, portions ofOhj membranous, imbricated scales, as long as the fruit. At the°^'te or winged extremity of the capsule are frequently the fibrousof the calyx. Seeds somewhat larger than grains of paradise,I4 ’ dirty brown, with a shallow groove on one side, internally white ;

an d odour feebly aromatic. One hundred parts of the fruit consist,Hiding to Th. Martius ( Pharmakogn.), of seventy parts seeds, andl )ar b> pericarpial coats. They are imported from Calcutta in

';k position. —Analogous probably to that of the Malabar cardamom,

0Hl y f° ur scruples of it from a pound of the fruit. The oil obtainedand tliickish.

v PKCTs and Uses. — Java cardamoms are not used here. They arcinferior quality, and when brought to this country are usuallyhond for continental use. A few months since a quantity of" a s sold at seven-pence per lb.

m the quantity of volatile oil which it yields; for Martius pro-