Amomum sericeum - Silky Cardamom

Silky Cardamom is a perennial herb 1-3 m tall. Leaves are lanceshaped, 50-65 x 7-15 cm, below silvery velvet-hairy, base wedge-shaped, tip tapering, leaf-stalk 4-8 cm. Flower spikes are nearly spherical, 3.5-5 cm across. Flower tube is white; petals 2.5-3 cm x 8-10 mm. Lateral staminodes subulate, about 5 mm. Lip yellow, midvein often striped red, oblong, 2-3 cm, white velvet-hairy. Filaments are about 4 mm; anther about 9 mm. Sepal-cup is white, club-shaped, 2.2-3 cm, hairy, tip 3-toothed. Flower-cluster-stalk is 2.5-4 cm, scalelike sheaths ovate, somewhat leathery, tip notched; bracts oblong, about 3.5 cm, membranous, early falling off. Capsule is pale brown, obovoid-spherical or obconical, about 2.5 x 1.5-2 cm, 3-5-angled. In Thailand, aril from mature fruit is fresh eaten as fruit. Young flowers are boiled as vegetable. Silky Cardamom is found in wet places in dense forests, at altitudes of 600-1200 m, in NE India to China and Indo-China. Flowering: October.