Meistera lappacea

(Ridl.) Skornick. & M. F. Newman

Malay cardamom

Zingiberaceae Edible: Seeds - spice, Fruit

gbif· cc0

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

gbif· cc0

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

gbif· cc0

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Description

A herb in the ginger family. It grows 2-3 m high. It keeps growing from year to year. The stems are supported on short stilt roots and there is an underground stem or rhizome. The leaves are sword shaped and 53 cm long by 9 cm wide. The flower spikes are near the ground. The fruit are berry like and prickly with fleshy spines and on short 2 cm long stalks. The fruit are 3.5 cm long by 2.5 cm wide. They are green.

Edible Uses

The fruit is eaten fresh. The seeds are used for flavoring, with a taste similar to wild cardamom.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten. The seeds are used for flavouring. They are like a wild cardamon.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in lowland to mountain evergreen forests up to 1,500 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, SE Asia, Thailand,

Cultivation

It can be grown from seed or division of the rhizome.

Notes

There are about 150 Amomum species. They are mostly tropical.

Synonyms

Amomum lappaceum Ridl.Amomum perakense Ridl.

Also Known As

Apush, Lempus, Sayang, Tepus rambutan

References (9)

Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 24 (As Amomum lappaceum)
Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 1 (A-H) p (As Amomum lappaceum)
Droop, A.J. & Newman, M.F., 2014, A revision of Amomum (Zingiberaceae) in Sumatra Edinburgh Journal of Botany 71: 193-258.
Milow, P., et al, 2013, Malaysian species of plants with edible fruits or seeds and their evaluation. International Journal of Fruit Science. 14:1, 1-27 (As Amomum lappaceum)
PROSEA handbook Volume 13 Spices. p 274 (As Amomum lappaceum)

Show all 9 references

Ridley, 1924, Flora of the Mal. Penins. 4 p 263 (As Amomum lappaceum)
Sukarya, D. G., (Ed.) 2013, 3,500 Plant Species of the Botanic Gardens of Indonesia. LIPI p 1060 (As Amomum lappaceum)
Verheij, E. W. M. and Coronel, R.E., (Eds.), 1991, Plant Resources of South-East Asia. PROSEA No 2. Edible fruits and nuts. Pudoc Wageningen. p 313 (As Amomum lappaceum)
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew