AMOMUM, in botany, a genus of the Monandria NIonogynia class and order, the characters of' which are, that the calyx is a perianthium, one-leafed, cylin draceous, and unequally trifid ; the co rolla is monopetalous and funnel-shaped, tube cylindraceous, border three-parted, parts oblong and spreading; the nectary two-leaved or two-lipped, lower lip in serted under tbe tipper seg-ment of the corolla, spreading almost erect, entire or three-lobed ; the stamina have no fila ment, except the upper lip of the necta ry smaller than the lower, and opposite to it, acciiniinate or three-lobed at the tip ; along the middle or at the end of which grows longittulinally larr,e ob long anther, germinate, or divided by a longitudinal furrow into two, which are one-valved ; the pistillum has an inferior, oblong germ, style filiform, drawn through the suture of the &salter, stigma turbi nate, obtuse and 'ciliate ; the pericarpl um a fleshy- capsule, ovate, three-corner ed, threc-celled, and three-A aired; the seeds are several, covered with a sort of berried aril. Gmelin, in his edition of Limmus, enumerates twenty species. A. zinziber, narrow-leaved ginger, cultiva ted by Miller, and flowering in Septem ber, is a native of the East Indies, and other countries of Asia, and is much used there and in the West Indies. The dried roots furnish a considerable article of commerce from our West India islands ; they are of great use in the kitchen and in medicine, and when preserved green as a sweet-meat are preferable to every other sort. A. zerumbet, cultivated at Hampton-court, in 1690, and flowering with us from September to November, when the stalks perish like those of the trot ginger ; a native of the East Indies, Cochinchina, &c. and also in Otaheite, and the other Society Isles. This is used externally in the East, in cataplasms and fomentations ; but not internally, as spice or medicine ; though Garcias says, that it makes a better preserve with sugar than the other. As to the propagation
and culture of these plants, it may be ob served, that they arc tender, and require a warm stove to preserve them in this country-. They are easily propagated by parting their roots, which should he done in the spring, before they put out new shoots, in parting the roots, they must not be divided into small pieces, espe cially if they are designed to have flow ers ; nor should they be planted in very large pots. They thrive best in a light rich earth, such as that of the kitchen garden ; and with this the pots should he filled within two inches of the top, and the roots should be placed in the middle of the pots, with their crowns upwards, and the pots should then be filled with the same earth ; they should be plunged into allot-bed of tanner's bark, and spa ringly watered, till their stalks appear above ground, when they will admit of more moisture, especially in the summer months ; but in autumn, the waterings must not be frequent nor plentiful, and during winter very sparing. The pots must constantly remain plunged in the tan-bed; for if they are taken out and placed on shelves inthe stove, their fibres often shrink, and thus their roots decay. By this management these plants have greatly multiplied, and the common gin ger has produced roots, weighing five or six ounces; hut the others have been nearly a pound weight. In the West In dies the ginger thrives best in a rich cool soil; in a more clayey soil the root shrinks less in scalding. The land laid out for the culture of it is first well cleared and hoed, and then slightly trenched, and planted. in March or April ; it flowers about September ; and when the stalks arc wholly withered, the roots are fit to be taken up, which is generally done in January and February.