False Cardamom

Cardamom plants are widely available for sale on the internet. The only problem is that the plants being sold aren’t actually cardamom. If the plant is a low mounding ginger with glossy leaves, and amazingly fragrant foliage, then it isn’t cardamom.

No matter how much someone insists that the plant that they have is the true cardamom, if it fits the description above, it’s Alpinia nutans, and not true cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum). True cardamom has tall thin pseudostems between 6 and 10 feet tall, and the entire plant is covered in fine fuzzy hairs. The leaves are not glossy, and the foliage has very little fragrance.
This is why I call this plant false cardamom. The good news is that Alpinia nutans is a really great plant, even if it isn’t the true cardamom. It is one of the most aromatic plants in my collection. Gently brushing the leaves is all it takes to release a spicy cardamom like aroma. Every time I water them, the yard is filled with the fragrance. Alpinia nutans rarely blooms in cultivation, but when it does, the flowers are quite beautiful, and resemble those of shell ginger to which it is closely related.

If not protected from freezes, it will die back to the ground, but it will re-emerge from the rhizomes in the Spring, as long as the ground doesn’t freeze. If you keep giving it room to spread, the clump will soon become several feet across and three feet tall. In a shady tropical garden, the glossy dense foliage is lush and beautiful.

Binomial nomenclature

Alpinia nutans

Common name

False cardamom, dwarf cardamom

Description

This plant has attractive glossy foliage. Lanceolate glabrous leaves emerge from dense stands of pseudostems. The terminal inflorescence resembles that of Alpinia zerumbet, but with smaller bracts, and much larger, red and yelow labellums.

Height

3′

Temperature/Zone

Zone 7b, 20°F or higher.

Light

Filtered shade.

Water

Keep them evenly moist during the warm months, but allow them to dry out a bit more during the winter.

Fertilizer

I use an all purpose fertilizer. Do not fertilize during the Winter.

Cultivation

Alpinia nutans is very forgiving of soil type, and is reportedly tollerant of salt.

Pests

I have not found any pests on this plant in Florida