Micropropagation of Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton)

Abstract

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) is a tall perennial shrub (Fig. 1), belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The aerial part of the plant consists of 10–20 erect leafy shoots (pseudo-stem) 2–5.5 m tall and made of leaf sheaths. In mature plants (bearing stage) several erect or decumbent panicles of length 0.6 to 1.2 m are also present. Both the shoots and panicles emerge from a horizontal subterranean woody rhizome. Each panicle bears numerous small, white or pale green flowers characterized by a conspicuous labellum with violet streaks radiating from the center. The flowers are hermaphrodite, zygomorphic, and have an average size of 4 × 1.7 cm. The ripe fruit is an ovoid trilocular capsule containing 15 to 20 aromatic seeds embedded in mucilage and enclosed in a semi-hard fleshy pale green to yellow pericarp. On drying, the pericarp becomes fibrous or leathery and the mucilage disappears. The dried capsules with the aromatic seeds inside are the commercial cardamoms.