True Amomum.
Botanical name:
Amomum verum racemosum.
(Probably Amomum compactum, but could also be Aframomum citratum or even Elettaria cardamomum. Check Pereira for possible candidates. -Henriette)
Amomum is another of those drugs we receive from abroad, and do not know the plants which produce them. The fruit itself, which is called amomum, is like the lesser cardamom, but that it is round; it consists of a skinny husk and seeds within, and is whitish, and of the bigness of a horse-bean. Several of these sometimes are found growing together to one stalk in a close body.
The old physicians used it as a cordial and carminative, but at present it is much neglected.
