in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the monandra class of plants.—Of this genus there are four species.

1. The zingiber, or common ginger, is a native of the East, and also of some parts of the West Indies; where it grows naturally without culture. The roots are jointed, and spread in the ground: they put out many green reed-like stalks in the spring, which arise to the height of two feet and a half, with narrow leaves. The flower-stems arise by the side of these, immediately from the root; these are naked; ending with an oblong scaly spike. From each of these scales is produced a single blue flower, whose petals are but little lower than the Amomum squamosus covering.

2. The zerumbet, or wild ginger, is a native of India. The roots are larger than those of the first, but are jointed in the same manner. The stalks grow from three to near four feet high, with oblong leaves placed alternately. The flower-stems arise immediately from the root: these are terminated by oblong, blunt, scaly heads; out of each scale is produced a single white flower, whose petals extend a considerable length beyond the scaly covering.

3. The cardamomum, or cardamom, is likewise a native of India; but is little known in this country except by its seeds, which are used in medicine. Of this there is a variety, with smaller fruit, which makes the distinction into cardamomum majus and minus. The first, when it comes to us, is a dried fruit or pod about an inch long, containing, under a thick skin, two rows of small triangular seeds of a warm aromatic flavour. The cardamomum minus is a fruit scarce half the length of the foregoing, but considerably stronger both in smell and taste.

4. The grana paradisi species is likewise a native of the East-Indies. The fruit containing the grains of paradise is about the size of a fig, divided into three cells, in each of which are contained two roots of small seeds like cardamoms. They are somewhat more grateful, and considerably more pungent, than cardamoms.

Culture. The first two species are tender, and require a warm stove to preserve them in this country. They are easily propagated by parting the roots in the spring. These should be planted in pots filled with light rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's-bark, where they must constantly remain. Cardamoms and grains of paradise are not cultivated in this country. If we may believe the Abbé Raynal, the former propagate themselves, in those countries where they are natives, without either sowing or planting. Nothing more is required than, as soon as the rainy season is over, to set fire to the herb which has produced the fruit.

Use. The dried roots of the first species are of great use in the kitchen, as well as in medicine. They furnish a considerable export from some of the American islands. The green roots, preserved as a sweet-meat, are preferable to every other kind. The Indians mix them with their rice, which is their common food, to correct its natural insipidity. This spice, mixed with others, gives the dishes seasoned with it a strong taste, which is extremely disagreeable to strangers. The Europeans, however, who come into Asia without fortunes, are obliged to conform to it. The others adopt it out of complaisance to their wives, who are generally natives of the country.—Ginger is a very useful spice, in cold flatulent colics, and in laxity and debility of the intestines; it does not heat so much as those of the pepper kind, but its effects are much more durable. The cardamoma and grains of paradise have the same medicinal qualities with ginger.

AMOMUM Verum, or True Amomum, is a round fruit, about the size of a middling grape; containing, under a membranous cover, a number of small rough angular seeds, of a blackish brown colour on the outside, and whitish within: the seeds are lodged in three distinct cells; those in each cell are joined closely together, so that the fruit, upon being opened, appears to contain only three seeds. Ten or twelve of these AMONTONS these fruits grow together in a cluster; and adhere, without any pedicle, to a woody stalk about an inch long: each single fruit is surrounded by six leaves, in form of a cup; and the part of the stalk void of fruit is clothed with leafy scales.—The husks, leaves, and stems, have a light grateful smell, and a moderately warm aromatic taste: the seeds, freed from the husks, are in both respects much stronger; their smell is quick and penetrating, their taste pungent, approaching to that of camphor. Notwithstanding amomum is an elegant aromatic, it has long been a stranger to the shops. See Materia Medica, no. 97.

AMOMUM Vulgare. See SISON.