Elettaria Explained

Elettaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. They are native to India and Sri Lanka, but cultivated and naturalized elsewhere.^[1] One member of the genus, E. cardamomum, 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:^[1]

• Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton - India
• Elettaria ensal (Gaertn.) Abeyw. - Sri Lanka

These former species from Malaysia and Indonesia were reclassified into Sulettaria in 2018:^[2]

• Elettaria brachycalyx S.Sakai & Nagam. - Sarawak
• Elettaria kapitensis S.Sakai & Nagam. - Sarawak
• Elettaria linearicrista S.Sakai & Nagam. - Sarawak, Brunei
• Elettaria longipilosa S.Sakai & Nagam. - Sarawak
• Elettaria longituba (Ridl.) Holttum - Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia
• Eulettaria multiflora (Ridl.) R.M.Sm. - Sumatra, Sarawak
• Elettaria rubida R.M.Sm. - Sabah, Sarawak
• Elettaria stoloniflora (K.Schum.) S.Sakai & Nagam. - Sarawak
• Elettaria surculosa (K.Schum.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm. - Sarawak

References

• University of Melbourne: Sorting Elettaria names

Notes and References

1. http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=243049 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. 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. 10.12705/674.3. 92388068 .