THE TRUE OR OFFICINAL CARDAMOM.

695

1 after, the adjacent spot is cleared of weeds, and the tree felled” Se at its root. The earth, shaken and loosened by the force of the°n tree, shoots forth young cardamom plants in about a mouth’s time.”, Pt- Dickson, in Roxburgh’s FI. Indica.)

, 1 lie quantities of cardamoms brought for sale at Malabar is aboutlo • 01 ’ accor( li n S t° another account, only 100 candies, from the fol-" * *ug places (Hamilton, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 538):—

Candies of

Candies of

040 lbs.

640 lbs.

_ 40.

. 30

W vnaad .

.... 57.

. 65

Tamarachery .

.... 20.

. 3

Cadutinada or Cartinaad

.... 3.

. ... 2

120

100

tli ^ le c;i, 'damoms of the Wynaad are shorter, fuller of seed, and whiterthose of Malabar, and sell for 100 rupees a candy more. Thosetmorg have fewer fine grains, but they have also fewer black or light,, es - The cardamoms of Sersi (western part of Soonda) are inferior to1( ’* e of Coorg (Hamilton, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 538, and vol. iii. p. 228).^Description.—T he fruit of the Elettaria Cardamom,urn constitutese officinal, or Malabar cardamom ( cardamoms, VA.; cardamomum

*iUs, Clusius, Matthiolus , llontius, Geoffrey, Dale, Geiger, Th. Martins,(l Guibourt; cardamomum malabarense). It is an ovate-oblong, ob-th S( % triangular capsule, from three to ten lines long, rarely exceedingp’ e e lines in breadth ; coriaceous, ribbed, grayish or brownish-yellow.^ contains many, angular, blackish or reddish-brown, rugose seeds■ ffdarnomum, L.; cardamomum excorticatum, offic.), which are whitea er »a]ly, have a pleasant aromatic odour, and a warm, aromatic,stable taste. [For some drawings of the minute structure of theai°i ’ v ’^ e Bisclioffs Handb. d. botanic. Terminal. Tab. xliii. fig. 1876fl j.' 11154], 100 parts of the fruit yield 74 parts of seeds and 26 parts

hcricarpial coats (Th. Martius, Pharmakogn.)vi- Uee varieties of Malabar cardamoms are distinguished in commerce,

• shorts, short-longs and long-longs.

a. Shorts: Malabar cardamoms properly so called ;Petit cardamome (Guib.Jy ? Wynaad cardamom (Ha-milton); ?? Prima species Elettari plane rotunda etalbicans (Rheede, pars xi. tab. 4, 5, and 6).—Fromthree to six lines long, and from two to three lines broad;more coarsely ribbed, and of a browner colour than theother varieties. This is the most esteemed variety.

£S. Short-longs: ? Secunda species Elettari oblongiorsed vilior (Rheede).—Differs from the third varietyonly in being somewhat shorter and less acuminate.

7. Long-longs: Moyencardamome (Guib.); ??Tertiaspecies Elettari vilissima et plane acuminata (Rheede).—From seven lines to an inch long, and from two tothree lines broad: elongated, somewhat acuminate.This, as well as the last variety, is paler and morefinely ribbed than var. a. shorts. The seeds also arefrequently paler (in some cases resembling those ofq, the Ceylon cardamom) and more shrivelled.

ill i^mnN.—The small cardamom was analysed by Trommsdorf,foil® 4 . 4 ( Jowrn - de Chim. Med. t. i. p. 196, 2 I,de Ser.) He obtained theving results:— Essential oil 46, fixed oil KF4, a salt of potash

Fig. 130.

Malabar Cardamoms.

shorts.

' s fi°rt-longs.

e - lor ’ "

n y -longs.