cardamom

cardamom

, cardamum, cardamon

1. a tropical Asian zingiberaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum, that has large hairy leaves

2. a related East Indian plant, Amomum cardamomum, whose seeds are used as a substitute for cardamom seeds.

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

cardamom

[′kärd·ə·məm]

(botany)

cardamon

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cardamom

 

(Elettaria cardamomum), a perennial herbaceous plant of the family Zingiberaceae. It has creeping root-stock. The leaves are lanceolate and are arranged in two rows along the vegetative shoots; they measure 2-4 m tall. The flower stalks, measuring up to 60 cm long, end in panicles with pale green blossoms. The fruit is a trilobate capsule with reddish-brown seeds of irregular shape. The seeds are used as a spice in cooking. They contain 3.5-7 percent oil, which is used in food and tobacco products. The oil is also used in medicine. Cardamom grows wild in the rain forests on the mountains of southern India. The plant is cultivated primarily in India, Sri-Lanka (Ceylon), Indochina, and South China.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.