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Plant · P-637
Black Cardamom
Amomum subulatum
Black cardamom is the large smoky cousin of true cardamom - the dark brown pods are crushed whole into rice, lentils, curries and long-simmered stews, and the seed carries a distinctly camphorous eucalyptus note rather than the sweet one. Leaves, roots, flowers and pods are all edible, and about two-fifths of world production goes not to the kitchen but to pharmacy, cosmetics and perfumery. It is one of the few crops that genuinely prefers deep shade: in the eastern Himalaya it is grown as a permanent understorey beneath Himalayan alder, mulched with the shade trees' own leaf fall, which makes it a rare candidate for productive ground under a canopy where little else will crop. It wants acid soil, steady moisture and no frost, and it spreads slowly outward on a creeping rhizome.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist · Wet
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 4.5–6
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5 ft
- Mature spread
- 12–36 in
- Plant spacing
- 12–36 in
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Root
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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