Elettaria

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For the restaurant of the same name, see Akhtar Nawab.

Elettaria
True Cardamom
(Elettaria cardamomum)
1896 illustration[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Alpinioideae
Tribe: Alpinieae
Genus: Elettaria
Maton, 1811
Synonyms[2]
  • Cardamomum Noronha
  • Matonia Stephenson & J.M.Churchill

Elettaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. They are native to India and Sri Lanka, but cultivated and naturalized elsewhere.[2] One member of the genus, E. cardamomum, known as green cardamom or true cardamom, is a commercially important spice used as a flavouring agent in many countries.

In 2018, several species were removed from Elettaria and placed in a new genus called Sulettaria. These species are recognized as of October 2018:[2] A phylogenetic analysis published in 2024 found that Elettaria was a well-defined clade of seven species native to India and Sri Lanka, which is sister to the African genus Aframomum and the African and Neotropical genus Renealmia, and distinct from the Sri Lankan genera Cyphostigma and Srilankanthus.[3]

Species

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Seven species are accepted.[4]

Formerly placed here

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These former species from Malaysia and Indonesia were reclassified into Sulettaria in 2018:[5]

Elettaria nemoralis is now accepted as Srilankanthus nemoralis, the sole species in genus Srilankanthus.[3]

References

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Wikispecies has information related to Elettaria.
  1. ^ Elettaria cardamomum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen - Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
  2. ^ a b c Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ^ a b Poulsen, A.D., Fér, T., Marasinghe, L.D.K., Sabu, M., Hughes, M., Valderrama, E. and Leong-Škorničková, J. (2024), The cardamom conundrum resolved: Recircumscription and placement of Elettaria in the only pantropically distributed ginger lineage. Taxon, 73: 1187-1213. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.13242
  4. ^ "Elettaria Maton". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
  5. ^ Poulsen, Axel; Båserud Mathisen, Helena; Newman, Mark; Ardiyani, Marlina; Lofthus, Øystein; Bjora, Charlotte (2018-08-01). "Sulettaria : A new ginger genus disjunct from Elettaria cardamomum". Taxon. 67 (4): 725–738. doi:10.12705/674.3. S2CID 92388068.