CARDAMOM

Cardamom is a perennial bushy herb. The tuberous underground rhizome is its real stem and the aerial shoot is a pseudostem and formed by the encircling leaf sheaths. The leaves are long, alternate and lanceolate in shape. Flowers are borne on panicles and they emerge directly from the underground stem on long floral stalks. They are hermaphrodite and zygomorphic. The fruits are tri-locular, ovoid or oblong, greenish-brown capsules containing about 15-20 seeds attached to axil placenta. Light reddish or dark reddish brown seeds are irregularly three-sided, transversely wrinkled or furrowed and are covered by a membranous aril.