



I 





1594 



COSTUS # pictus 





Variegated-flowered Costus. 







MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Scitamine^ R. Brown. (Introduction to the natural system 

 of Botany, p. 265.) 



COSTUS.— SuprA, vol. S.fol. 633. 





» 



C. pictus; foliis lanceolatis pilosis, spica ovata terminali, bracteis apiculatis, 

 labello trilobo; lacinia intermedia brevissima inciso-dentata revoluta. 



MSS 





Caulis erectus, cubitalis, undulato-flexuosus , crassitie digiti minoris. 

 Folia brevissime petiolata, lanceolata, acuminata, supra pilosa, subtus glabra, 

 concoloria, spithamcea. Ochreae brevissima, membranacea, leviter ciliata. 



m terminali* nollicaris. Bracteas subrotundo-ovatcB, 



ifi 



dpressd 

 flava, 



Periantbii 

 Labellum 



cuneato-oblongum, convolutum, apice dilatatum, trilobum, purpureo aureoque 

 variegatwn; laciniis exterioribus rotundatis, integerrimis ; intermedia inciso- 

 dentatd, revolutd, brevissimd. Filamentum lingulatum, petaloideum. Antnene 

 loculis oblongis, parallelis, medio filamenti adnatis. Stylus gracilis, com- 

 P/essus, inferne attenuatus, intra loculos antherat latens. Stigma bilabiatum, 

 basi appendice bilobd suffultum : labiis plicatis, bilobis, papilloso-fimonatis . 

 D - Don MSS. 



• 





, " Introduced from Mexico by seeds communicated to 

 Mr. Lambert by M. Deppe, a zealous Prussian Botanist, 

 who has been engaged for several years prosecuting re- 

 searches in Natural History in that country. The plant 

 flowers more freely, and appears to be less tender, tnan me 

 other species at present cultivated in the Gardens. The 

 structure of the labellum affords a good character, which 

 will readily distinguish it from all those hitherto described. 







Under this name were known to the ancients three sor 

 roots which Dioscorides calls the Indian, Arabian, and Syria 

 P^d that they were produced by some of the Ginger-tnbe 





