899 
COSTt^Pis^pis. 
MONANDRI A MONOG YNIA. 
Nat. ord. Sc it amine a. 
COSTUS. Suprav9l B.fol. 633. ^ 
C. Pisonis ; foliis carnosis elliptico-lanceolatis acuminatis basi angustatis, 
spica ovali arct^ imbricatd, squamis inferioribus apice foliaceis, coriQiiBB 
roseis. , 
Jacuacanga v. Paco Caatinga. Piso Brasil. 98. 
Paco Caatinga. Marcgr. Braz. 48. quoad Jiguram, vix autem descrip- 
tionem. 
Caulis herbaceus, 4-pedulis, strictissimus, glaberrimus. Folia grandia^ 
eoriacea, elliptico-lanceolata, acuminata, versus basin angustata, st^periora 
minora. Capitulus terminalis, ovi columbini magnitudine, squamis »mgui- 
neis imbricatus,pauciJlorus. Squamee luddte, ovaUe, obtuseBj margine mem- 
branateai infertoribus apice foliaceis. Flore^ rosei, rnagrd, i squamis erum- 
pente$f id^ decidui, 
. 1 \ : • ■ 
Dr. William Piso, a Dutch physician, who published 
an account of the Natural History of Brazil in 1648, was 
the first author who noticed this fine species of Costus, 
which he has described with a figure under the name of 
Jacuacanga, or Paco Caatinga. His figure has not been 
omitted in the compilations of modem Botanists, who have 
universally agreed in referring it to the Alpinia spicata 
of the elder Jacquin. But the last-mentioned Botanist 
describes hi& plant as having a yellow flower, and points 
out the discrepancy between it and the Brazilian plant of 
Piso. Of Jacquin's plant we have fine specimens from 
Guiana, communicated by Professor Hooker, and we do 
not doubt its being distinct from C. Pisonis. The Paco 
Caatinga of Marcgraaf, which is illustrated by the very 
same wooden block as was employed by Piso for his Jacu- 
acanga, is probably a species distinct from both those now 
mentioned, and remarkable for having its leaves white and 
downy on the under side, and very large heads of flowers. 
The kind to which allusion is made by Marcgraaf as resem- 
