Bai Kou and cardamom are different.

Bikou, also known as white cardamom kernel, is the dried and mature fruit of white cardamom, a perennial herbaceous plant of the Zingiberaceae family. The peel and flowers can also be used medicinally. They are mainly produced in Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and other places. They are also cultivated in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces and regions in my country. When the fruits are mature in autumn, they are picked, the branches and stems are removed, and they are dried or smoked with sulfur. When used, remove the peel or break it into pieces with the skin intact.

Cardamom is a perennial evergreen herbaceous plant native to Lingnan. It is about 10 feet tall, looks like a banana, has large, lanceolate leaves, pale yellow flowers, bears fruit in autumn, has flat spherical fruits, and seeds like pomegranate seeds, which can be used as medicine and have a fragrance. It can be used to dispel dampness and eliminate pimples, regulate temperature, stimulate appetite and eliminate food. It grows in shady and humid places in ravines, and is mostly cultivated in the shade of trees in my country. It is cultivated in Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi. Native to Indonesia.

Extended information:

Morphological characteristics of cardamom

The plant is 3 meters tall. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, 50-65 cm long and 6-9 cm wide. The top is acuminate and has a short tip. The base is narrow, asymmetrical on both sides, and the edges are hairy. Both sides are hairless or sparsely hairy. The back is covered with very sparse coarse hairs; the petiole is 1.5-2 cm long; the ligule is 5-8 mm long and is covered with coarse hairs.

The racemes are terminal, upright, up to 20 cm long. The inflorescence axis is light green and covered with coarse hairs. The small pedicels are about 3 mm long; the bracts are milky white, broad oval, about 3.5 cm long, and the base is Coarsely hairy, gradually reducing to hairless upward; calyx is bell-shaped, 2-2.5 cm long, irregularly toothed at the top, split on one side, ciliate or not, outer coat is hairy; corolla tube is about 8 mm long, corolla The edges of the lobes are slightly involute and ciliate.

Labial valve is triangular and oval, 3.5-4 cm long, slightly 2-lobed at the top, with colorful stripes radiating from the center to the edge; the ovary is hairy, about 5 mm in diameter; the gland is 1.5 mm long ; Anther chamber length 1.2-1.5 cm. The fruit is spherical, about 3 cm in diameter, and golden yellow when ripe. Flowering period: April-June; fruiting period: May-August.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Cardamom

Baidu Encyclopedia - Bai Kou