Amomum testaceum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Family: Zingiberaceae

Vernacular names

Southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo (Sabah). Possibly also sometimes cultivated in the same areas and in Vietnam.

The seed is aromatic and is occasionally used like true cardamom.

Rhizomatous herb with leafy shoots 2-3 m tall and separate inflorescences.
Leaves oblong, up to 60 cm × 10 cm, base narrowly cuneate resembling a winged petiole, apex shortly caudate.
Inflorescence an oblongoid spike, up to 15 cm × 3 cm, on a peduncle 6-15(-50) cm long; bracts papery with narrow longitudinal grooves.
Labellum obovate, up to 2 cm × 1.5 cm, white with a broad dull yellow patch towards the apex and a paler yellow median band flanked by purple lines that extend to the base; stamen with 8 mm long filament and a 3-lobed anther appendage.
Fruit a globose capsule, 1.5 cm in diameter, smooth or slightly ribbed, pinkish, slightly hairy.
Seed brown with a thin white aril.

A. testaceum is common on limestone throughout Peninsular Malaysia.

Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).

Holttum, R.E., 1950. The Zingiberaceae of the Malay Peninsula. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 13: 1-249.

Ridley, H.N., 1922-1925. The flora of the Malay Peninsula. 5 volumes. Government of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. L. Reeve & Co., London, United Kingdom.

Smith, R.M., 1985. A review of Bornean Zingiberaceae: 1 (Alpineae pp.). Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 42: 261-314.

P.C.M. Jansen