_Semina Cardamomi minoris_; _Cardamoms_, _Malabar Cardamoms_; F.
_Cardamomes_; G. _Cardamomen_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Elettaria[2384] Cardamomum_ Maton (_Alpinia
Cardamomum_ Roxb.), a flag-like perennial plant, 6 to 12 feet high,
with large lanceolate leaves on long sheathing stalks, and flowers in
lax flexuose horizontal scapes, 6 to 18 inches in length, which are
thrown out to the number of 3 or 4, close to the ground. The fruit is
ovoid, three-sided, plump and smooth, with a fleshy green pericarp.
The Cardamom plant grows abundantly, both wild and under cultivation,
in the moist shady mountain forests of North Canara, Coorg and Wynaad
on the Malabar Coast; at an elevation of 2500 to 5000 feet above
the sea. It is truly wild in Canara and in the Anamalai, Cochin and
Travancore forests.[2385] The cardamom region has a mean temperature of
22° C. (72° F.), and a mean rainfall of 121 inches.
[2383] _Archiv der Pharm._ xix. (1839) 52.
[2384] From _Elettari_, the Mallyalim name of the plant.—Fig. in
Bentley and Trimen’s _Med. Plants_, part 24 (1877).
[2385] The small “_Cardamom_“ island in the Laccadive group, west of
Malabar, is inhabited by Moplahs, known (as we are informed by Dr.
King, Calcutta) in the south of India as dealers in cardamoms.
A well-marked variety, differing chiefly in the elongated form and
large size of its fruits, is found wild in the forests of the central
and southern provinces of Ceylon. It was formerly regarded as a
distinct species under the name of _Elettaria major_, but careful
observation of growing specimens has shown that it possesses no
characters to warrant it being considered more than a variety of the
typical plant, and it is therefore now called _E. Cardamomum_ var. β.
It is only known to occur in Ceylon, where the ordinary cardamom of
Malabar is not found except as a cultivated plant.[2386]
=History=—Cardamoms, _Elā_, are mentioned in the writings of Susruta,
and hence may have been used in India from a remote period. It is not
unlikely that in common with ginger and pepper they reached Europe in
classical times, although it is not possible from the descriptions
that have come down to determine exactly what was the Καρδάμωμον of
Theophrastus and Dioscorides, or the Ἄμωμον of the last named writer.
The _Amomum_, _Amomis_ and _Cardamomum_ of Pliny are also doubtful, the
description he gives of the last being unintelligible as applied to
anything now known by that name.
In the list of Indian spices liable to duty at Alexandria, _circa_
A.D. 176-180 (see Appendix, A), _Amomum_ as well as _Cardamomum_ is
mentioned. St. Jerome names _Amomum_ together with musk, as perfumes in
use among the voluptuous ecclesiastics of the 4th century.[2387]
Cardamoms are named by Edrisi[2388] about A.D. 1154 as a production of
Ceylon, and also as an article of trade from China to Aden; and in the
same century they are mentioned together with cinnamon and cloves (p.
282) as an import in Palestine by way of Acre, then a trading city of
the Levant.[2389]
The first writer who definitely and correctly states the country of the
cardamom appears to be the Portuguese navigator Barbosa[2390] (1514),
who frequently names it as a production of the Malabar coast. Garcia
de Orta[2391] mentions the shipment of the drug to Europe; he also
ascertained that the larger sort was produced in Ceylon. The Malabar
cardamon plant was figured by Rheede under its indigenous name of
_Elettari_.[2392]
[2386] Thwaites, _Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ_, 1864. 318.
[2387] _S. Hieronymi Opera Omnia_, ed. Migne, ii. (1845) 297, in
_Patrologiæ cursus completus_, vol. xxii.
[2388] In the work quoted in the Appendix, i. (1836) 73, 51.—It is
questionable whether _Elettaria_ is intended at p. 51.
[2389] A _long_ and _curious article_ on _cardamoms_, by a pharmacist
of Cairo, 13th century, named _Abul Mena_, is quoted by Leclerc,
_Histoire de la Médecine arabe_, ii. (Paris, 1876) 215.
[2390] _Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar_, Hakluyt
Society, 1866. 59. 64, 147. 154. etc.
[2391] In the work quoted at p. 547, note 8.
[2392] _Hortus Malabaricus_, xi. (1692) tab. 4-5.
The essential oil of cardamoms was distilled before 1544 by Valerius
Cordus (see p. 526, note 1).
=Cultivation and Production=—Although the cardamom plant grows wild in
the forests of Southern India, where it is commonly called _Ilāchi_,
its fruits are largely obtained from cultivated plants. The methods
of cultivation, which vary in the different districts, may be thus
described:—
1. Previous to the commencement of the rains the cultivators ascend
the mountain sides, and seek in the shady evergreen forests a spot
where some cardamom plants are growing. Here they make small clearings,
in which the admission of light occasions the plant to develope in
abundance. The cardamom plants attain 2 to 3 feet in height during the
following monsoon, after which the ground is again cleared of weeds,
protected with a fence, and left to itself for a year. About two years
after the first clearing the plants begin to flower, and five months
later ripen some fruits, but a full crop is not got till at least
a year after. The plants continue productive six or seven years. A
garden, 484 square yards in area, four of which may be made in an
acre of forest, will give on an average an annual crop of 12½ lbs. of
garbled cardamoms.[2393] Ludlow, an Assistant Conservator of Forests,
reckons that not more than 28 lbs. can be got from an acre of forest.
From what he says, it further appears that the plants which come up
on clearings of the Coorg forests are mainly _seedlings_, which make
their appearance in the same _quasi_-spontaneous manner as certain
plants in the clearings of a wood in Europe. He says they commence
to bear in about 3½ years after their first appearance.[2394] The
plan of cultivation above described is that pursued in the forests of
Travancore, Coorg and Wynaad.
2. On the lower range of the Pulney Hills, near Dindigul, at an
elevation of about 5,000 feet above the sea, the cardamom plant is
cultivated in the shade. The natives burn down the underwood, and clear
away the small trees of the dense moist forests called _sholas_, which
are damp all the year round. The cardamoms are then sown, and when a
few inches high are planted out, either singly or in twos, under the
shade of the large trees. They take five years before they bear fruit:
“in October,” remarks our informant,[2395] “I saw the plants in full
flower and also in fruit,—the latter not however ripe.”
[2393] _Report on the Administration of Coorg for the year 1872-73_,
Bangalore, 1873. 44.
[2394] Elliot, _Experiences of a Planter in the Jungles of Mysore_,
Lond. ii. (1871) 201, 209.
[2395] Col. Beddome, Conservator of Forests, Madras. We have
likewise to acknowledge information on this head from Dr. Brandia,
Inspector-General of Forests in India, and Dr. King, Director of the
Botanic Garden, Calcutta.
3. In North Canara and Western Mysore the cardamom is cultivated in
the betel-nut plantations. The plants, which are raised from seed, are
planted between the palms, from which and from plantains they derive a
certain amount of shade. They are said to produce fruit in their third
year.
Cardamoms begin to ripen in October, and the gathering continues during
dry weather for two or three months. All the fruits on a scape do not
become ripe at the same time, yet too generally the whole scape is
gathered at once and dried,—to the manifest detriment of the drug.
This is done partly to save the fruit from being eaten by snakes,
frogs and squirrels, and partly to avoid the capsules splitting, which
they do when quite mature. In some plantations however the cardamoms
are gathered in a more reasonable fashion. As they are collected the
fruits are carried to the houses, laid out for a few days on mats,
then stripped from their scapes, and the drying completed by a gentle
fire-heat. In Coorg the fruit is stripped from the scape before drying,
and the drying is sometimes effected wholly by sun-heat.
In the native states of Cochin and Travancore cardamoms are a monopoly
of the respective governments. The rajah of the latter state requires
that all the produce shall be sold to his officials, who forward it to
the main depôt at Alapalli or Aleppi, a port in Travancore, where his
commercial agent resides. The rajah is tenacious of his rights, and
inserts a clause in the leases he grants to European coffee-planters,
of whom a great many have settled in his territory, requiring that
cardamoms shall not be grown.
The cardamoms at Aleppi are sold by auction, and bought chiefly by
Moplah merchants for transport to different parts of India, and also,
through third parties, to England. All the lower qualities are consumed
in India, and the finer alone shipped to Europe.
In the forests belonging to the British Government cardamoms are mostly
reckoned among the miscellaneous items of produce; but in Coorg, the
cardamom forests are now let at a rental of £3,000 per annum under a
lease which will expire in 1878.[2396]
Dr. Cleghorn, late Conservator of Forests in the Madras Presidency,
observes in a letter to one of us, that the rapid extension of coffee
culture along the slopes of the Malabar mountains has tended to lessen
the production of cardamoms, and has encroached considerably upon the
area of their indigenous growth. A recent writer[2397] has shown from
his own experience that the cultivation of the cardamom is a branch of
industry worth the attention of Europeans, and has given many valuable
details for insuring successful results.
[2396] Report quoted at p. 645. note 1.
[2397] Elliot, _op. cit._, chap. 12.
=Description=—The fruit of the Malabar cardamom as found in
commerce is an ovoid or oblong, three-sided, three-valved capsule,
containing numerous seeds arranged in three cells. It is rounded
at the base, and often retains a small stalk; towards the apex it
is more or less contracted, and terminates in a short beak. The
longitudinally-striated, inodorous, tasteless pericarp is of a pale
greyish-yellow, or buff, or brown when fully ripe, of a thin papery
consistence, splitting lengthwise into three valves. From the middle
of the inner side of each valve a thin partition projects towards the
axis, thereby producing three cells, each of which encloses 5 to 7 dark
brown, aromatic seeds, arranged in two rows and attached in the central
angle.
The seeds, which are about two lines long, are irregularly angular,
transversely rugose, and have a depressed hilum and a deeply channelled
raphe. Each seed is enclosed in a thin colourless aril.
Cardamoms vary in size, shape, colour and flavour: those which are
shortly ovoid or nearly globular, and ⁴/₁₀ to ⁶/₁₀ of an inch in
length, are termed in trade language _shorts_; while those of a more
elongated form, pointed at each end, and ⁷/₁₀ to ⁹/₁₀ of an inch long,
are called _short-longs_. They are further distinguished by the names
of localities, as Malabar (or Mangalore), Aleppi, and Madras. The
_Malabar Cardamoms_, which are the most esteemed, are of full colour,
and occur of both forms, namely _shorts_ and _short-longs_; they are
brought to Europe _viâ_ Bombay. Those terms _Aleppi_ are generally
_shorts_, plump, beaked and of a peculiar greenish tint; they are
imported from Calicut, and sometimes from Aleppi. The _Madras_ are
chiefly of elongated form (_short-longs_) and of a more pallid hue;
they are shipped at Madras and Pondicherry.
Cardamoms are esteemed in proportion to their plumpness and heaviness,
and the sound and mature condition of the seeds they contain. Good
samples afford about three-fourths of their weight of seeds.[2398]
The fruits of the second form (var. β) of _Elettaria Cardamomum_, known
in trade as _Ceylon Cardamoms_, are from 1 to 2 inches in length, and
³/₁₀ to ⁴/₁₀ of an inch in breadth, distinctly three-sided, often
arched, and always of a dark greyish-brown. The seeds are larger and
more numerous than those of the Malabar plant, and somewhat different
in odour and taste.
=Microscopic Structure=—The testa of the seed consists of three
distinct layers, namely an exterior of thick-walled, spirally-striated
cells, somewhat longitudinally extended, and exhibiting on transverse
section, square, not very large, cavities; then a row of large cells
with thin transverse walls; and finally, an internal layer of deep
brown, radially-arranged cells, the walls of which have so thick a
deposit that at the most only small cavities remain.
The granular, colourless, sac-shaped albumen encloses a horny
endosperm, in which the embryo is inserted the projecting radicle
being directed towards the hilum. The cells of the albumen have the
form of elongated polyhedra, almost entirely filled with very small
starch granules. Besides them, there occur in most of the cells,
somewhat larger masses of albuminoid matter having a rhombohedric form,
distinctly observable when thin slices of the seed are examined under
almond oil in polarized light. These remarkable crystalloid bodies
resemble those occurring in the seeds of cumin (p. 332).
=Chemical Composition=—The parenchyme of the albumen and embryo is
loaded with fatty oil and essential oil, the former existing in the
seed to the extent of about 10 per cent.
The percentage of essential oil is stated by Messrs. Schimmel & Co.,
Leipzig, to be equal to 5 in the Madras Cardamoms, and to 3·5 in the
Ceylon. We found the latter to be dextrogyrate; the same gentlemen
presented us (1876) with a crystallized deposit from the latter oil,
which appears to be _identical with common camphor_. Its alcoholic
solution deviates the plane of polarization to the right, apparently to
the same amount as that of common camphor (see also oil of spike, p.
479).
Dumas and Péligot (1834) state to have obtained from the essential oil
of cardamoms (inodorous?) crystals of terpin, C₁₀H₁₆ + 3 OH₂. The ash
of cardamoms, in common with that of several other plants of the same
order, is remarkably rich in manganese.[2399]
=Commerce=—There are no statistics to show the production of cardamoms
in the south of India or even the quantity exported. The shipments in
the year 1872-73 from Bombay, to which port the drug is largely sent
from the Madras Presidency, amounted to 1,650 cwt., of which 1,055 cwt.
were exported to the United Kingdom.[2400]
Cardamoms, the produce of Ceylon and therefore of the _large_ variety,
were exported from that island in 1872 to the extent of 9,273 lb.—the
whole quantity being shipped to the United Kingdom.[2401]
[2398] Thus 202 lb. shelled at various times during 10 years, afforded
154½ lb. of seeds. (Information from the laboratory accounts of Messrs.
Allen and Hanburys, Plough Court, Lombard Str.).
[2399] _Pharm. Journ._ iii. (1872) 208.
[2400] _Statement of the Trade, etc. of Bombay for 1872-73._ ii. 58. 90.
[2401] _Ceylon Blue Book for 1872_, Colombo, 1873. 543.
=Uses=—Cardamoms are an agreeable aromatic, often administered in
conjunction with other medicines. As an ingredient in curry powder,
they have also some use as a condiment. But the consumption in England
is small in comparison with what it is in Russia, Sweden, Norway and
parts of Germany, where they are constantly employed as a spice for the
flavouring of cakes. In these countries Ceylon cardamoms are also used,
but exclusively for the manufacture of liqueurs. In India, cardamoms,
besides being used in medicine, are employed as a condiment and for
chewing with betel.
Other sorts of Cardamom.
The fruits of several other plants of the order _Zingiberaceæ_ have
at various times been employed in pharmacy under the common name of
_Cardamom_. We shall here notice only those which have some importance
in European or Indian commerce.[2402]
_Round or Cluster Cardamom_—_Amomum Cardamomum_ L., the mother plant of
this drug, is a native of Cambodia, Siam, Sumatra and Java.
During the intercourse with Siam, which was frequent in the early
part of the 17th century, this drug, which is there in common use,
occasionally found its way into Europe. Clusius received a specimen
of it in 1605 as the true _Amomum_ of the ancients, and figured it
as a great rarity.[2403] As _Amomum verum_ it had a place in the
pharmacopœias of this period. Parkinson (1640), who figures it as
_Amomum genuinum_, says that “of late days it hath been sent to Venice
from the East Indies.” Dale (1693) and Pomet (1694) both regarded it as
a rare drug; the latter says it is brought from Holland, and that it is
the only thing that ought to be used when _Amomum_ is ordered. In 1751
it was so scarce that in making the _Theriaca Andromachi_ some other
drug had always to be substituted for it.[2404]
Thus it had completely disappeared, when about the year 1853 commercial
relations were re-opened with Siam; and among the commodities poured
into the market were _Round Cardamoms_. They were not appreciated, and
the importations becoming unprofitable, soon ceased.[2405] They are
nevertheless an article of considerable traffic in Eastern Asia.
Round Cardamoms are produced in small compact bunches.[2406] Each
fruit is globular, ⁵/₁₀ to ⁷/₁₀ of an inch in diameter, marked
with longitudinal furrows, and sometimes distinctly three-lobed.
The pericarp is thin, fragile, somewhat hairy, of a buff colour,
enclosing a three-lobed mass of seeds, which are mostly shrivelled
as if the fruit had been gathered unripe. The seeds, which have a
general resemblance to those of the Malabar cardamom, have a strong
camphoraceous, aromatic taste.
[2402] For additional information on the various sorts of Cardamom,
consult Guibourt, _Hist. des Drog._ ii. (1869) 215-227; Pereira,
_Elements of Mat. Med._ ii., part i. (1855) 243-263; Hanbury in _Pharm.
Journ._ xiv. (1855) 352. 416; _Science Papers_, 93-15.
[2403] _Exoticorum Libri_, 377. Yet it already occurs in the
_Dispensatorium_ of Valerius Cordus.
[2404] Hill, _Hist. of the Mat. Med._, Lond. (1751) 472.
[2405] Thus 43 bags, imported direct from Bangkok, were offered for
sale in London, 26 March, 1857, and bought in at 1_s._ 6_d._ per lb.
[2406] Fig. in Guibourt, _l. c._ 215.
There is a large export from Siam of cardamoms of this and the
following sort. The shipments from Bangkok in 1871 amounted to 4,678
peculs (623,733 lbs.), and were all to Singapore and China.[2407]
In 1875 we noticed the export from Bangkok of 267 peculs of “true”
cardamoms, valued at 45,140 dollars, and 3,267 peculs of “bastard”
cardamoms, value 92,865 dollars; the latter no doubt refer to the
following kind:[2408]—
_Xanthioid Cardamom_; _Wild or Bastard Cardamom of Siam_—This is
afforded by _Amomum xanthioides_ Wallich, a native of Tenasserim and
Siam. During the past thirty years the seeds of this plant, deprived
of their capsules, have often been imported into the London market,
and they are now also common in the bazaars of India.[2409] They
closely resemble the seeds of the Malabar cardamom, differing chiefly
in flavour and in being rather more finely rugose. Occasionally they
are imported still cohering in ovoid, three-lobed masses, as packed in
the pericarp. Sometimes they are distinguished as _Bastard_ or _Wild_,
but are more generally termed simply _Cardamom Seeds_. They are a
considerable article of trade in Siam.
The fruits of this species grow in round clusters and are remarkable
for having the pericarp thickly beset with weak fleshy spines,[2410]
which gives them some resemblance to the fruits of a _Xanthium_, and
has suggested the specific name.
_Bengal Cardamom_—This drug, which with the next two has been hitherto
confounded under one name,[2411] is afforded by _Amomum subulatum_
Roxb.,[2412] a native of the Morung mountains, to the S.S.W. of
Darjiling, in about 26°·30′ N. lat. The fruit is known by the name
of _Winged Bengal Cardamom_, _Morung Elachi_ or _Buro Elachi_. They
average about an inch in length, and are of ovoid or slightly obconic
form, and obscurely 3-sided; the lower end is rounded and usually
devoid of stalk. The upper part of the fruit is provided with 9 narrow
jagged wings or ridges, which become apparent after maceration; and the
summit terminates in a truncate bristly nipple,—never protracted into a
long tube. The pericarp is coarsely striated, and of a deep brown. It
easily splits into 3 valves, inclosing a 3-lobed mass of seeds, 60 to
80 in number, agglutinated by a viscid saccharine pulp, due to the aril
with which each seed is surrounded. The seeds are of roundish form,
rendered angular by mutual pressure, and about ⅛ of an inch long; they
have a highly aromatic, camphoraceous taste.
[2407] _Commercial Report of H.M. Consul-General in Siam for 1871._
[2408] _Science Papers_, 102-103.
[2409] Moodeen Sheriff, _Supplement to Pharmacopœia of India_, Madras,
1869. 44. 270.
[2410] See figures in _Pharm. Journ._ xiv. (1855) 418; also _Science
Papers_, 1876, p. 101-103.
[2411] As by Pereira, _Elem. of Mat. Med._ ii. (1850) 1135.
[2412] According to Dr. King, in Sir Joseph Hooker’s _Report on the
Royal Gardens at Kew_, 1877. 27.
_Nepal Cardamom_—The description of the Bengal cardamom applies in many
points to this drug, to which it has a singularly close resemblance.
The fruit is of the same size and form, and is also crowned in its
upper part with thin jagged ridges, and marked in a similar manner
with longitudinal striæ; and lastly, the seeds have the same shape and
flavour. But it differs, firstly, in bearing on its summit a tubular
calyx, which is as long or longer than the fruit itself; and, secondly,
in the fruit being often attached to a short stalk. The fruits are
borne on an ovoid scape, 3 to 4 inches long, densely crowded with
overlapping bracts, which are remarkably broad and truncate with a
sharp central claw,—very distinct from the much narrower ovate bracts
of _A. aromaticum_, as shown in Roxburgh’s unpublished drawing of that
plant.
The plant, which is unquestionably a species of _Amomum_, has not
yet been identified with any published description. We have to thank
Colonel Richard C. Lawrence, British Resident at Katmandu, for sending
us a fruit-scape in alcohol, some dried leaves, and also the drug
itself,—the last agreeing perfectly with specimens obtained through
other channels.
The Nepal cardamom, the first account of which is due to
Hamilton,[2413] is cultivated on the frontiers of Nepal, near
Darjiling. The plant is stated by Col. Lawrence to attain 3 to 6 feet
in height, and to be grown on well-watered slopes of the hills, under
the shelter of trees. The fruit is exported to other parts of India.
_Java Cardamom_—A well-marked fruit, produced by _Amomum maximum_
Roxb., a plant of Java. The fruits are arranged to the number of 30
to 40 on a short thick scape, and form a globose group, 4 inches in
diameter. They are stalked, and of a conical or ovoid form, in the
fresh state as much as 1½ inches long by 1 inch broad. Each fruit is
provided with 9 to 10 prominent wings, ⅛ of an inch high, running from
base to apex, and coarsely toothed except in their lowest part. The
summit is crowned by a short, withered, calycinal tube.
Mr. Binnendyk, of the Botanical garden of Buitenzorg, in Java, who has
kindly supplied us with fine specimens of _A. maximum_, as well as with
an admirable coloured drawing, states that the plant is cultivated, and
that its fruits are sold for the sake of their agreeable edible pulp.
We do not know whether the dried fruits or the seeds are ever exported.
Pereira confounded them with Bengal and Nepal cardamoms.
_Korarima Cardamom_—The Arab Physicians were acquainted with a sort
of cardamom called _Heil_, which was later known in Europe, and is
mentioned in the most ancient printed pharmacopœias as _Cardamomum
majus_,[2414] a name occurring also in Valerius Cordus and Mattiolus.
Like some other Eastern drugs, it gradually disappeared from European
commerce, and its name came to be transferred to _Grains of Paradise_,
which to the present day are known in the shops as _Semina Cardamomi
majoris_.
[2413] _Account of the Kingdom of Nepal_, Edin. 1819. 74-75.
[2414] As the _Tesaurus Aromatariorum_, printed at Milan in 1496, in
which it is called _Heil_ or _Gardamomum majus_.
The true _Cardamomum majus_ is a conical fruit,[2415] in size and shape
not unlike a small fig reversed, containing roundish angular seeds,
of an agreeable aromatic flavour, much resembling that of the Malabar
cardamom, and quite devoid of the burning taste of grains of paradise.
Each fruit is perforated, having been strung on a cord to dry; such
strings of cardamoms are sometimes used by the Arabs as rosaries. The
fruit in question is called in the Galla language _Korarima_, but it
is also known as _Gurági_ spice, and by its Arabic names of _Heil_
and _Habhal-habashi_.[2416] According to Beke,[2417] it is conveyed to
the market of Báso (10° N. lat.), in Southern Abyssinia, from Tumhé, a
region lying in about 9° N. lat. and 35° E. long.; thence it is carried
to Massowah, on the Red Sea, and shipped for India and Arabia. Von
Heuglin[2418] speaks of it as brought from the Galla country. It is not
improbable that it is the same fruit which Speke[2419] saw growing in
1862 at Uganda, in lat 0°, and which he says is strung like a necklace
by the Wagonda people. Under the name of _Heel Habashee_, Korarima
cardamoms were contributed in 1873 from Shoa to the Vienna exhibition;
we have also been presented, in 1877, with an excellent specimen of
them, recently imported, by Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig.
Pereira proposed for the plant the name of _Amomum Korarima_, but it
has never been botanically described. It would appear from the above
statements that it must be indigenous to the whole mountainous region
of Eastern Africa, from the Victoria Nyanza lake (Uganda) to the
countries of Tumhé, Gurague, and Shoa, south and south-eastward of
Abyssinia.