Tas. 6821. 
COSTUS IGNEUS. 
Native of Brazil. 
Nat. Ord. Scrraminem.—Tribe ZINGIBERER. 
Genus Costus, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 646.) 
Costus tgneus ; glaberrimus, caule erecto folioso, foliis breviter petiolatis ellipticis 
v. elliptico-lanceolatis caudato-acuminatissimis undulatis supremis subrosulatis, 
vaginarum ore ciliolato, calyce elongato 3-fido, corolla tubo infundibulari calyce 
duplo longiore lobis late ovatis oblongis v. oblanceolatis obtusis v. acuminatis 
recurvis, labello amplo orbiculari 2-24 poll. diametro late aurantiaco irregulariter 
crenato, connectivo oblongo concavo aureo dorso pubescente basi cordato apice 
rostrato rostro inflexo. 
C. igneus, NV. E. Brown in I?Illustr. Hortic. vol. xxxi. p. 25, t. 511. 
This brilliant plant is stated in the work above quoted 
to be a native of Bahia, whence it was imported by Mr. 
Linden, and it is there figured under the name given it by 
Mr. N. E. Brown, Assistant in the Kew Herbarium, to 
whom it was sent for the purpose of being identified and 
named. There are good specimens of it in the Kew 
Herbarium, collected by M. Glaziou, Director of Public 
Parks and Gardens at Rio de Janeiro, but with no par- 
ticular locality, nor is it stated whether they are indigenous 
or cultivated. 
The genus Costus is a very considerable one, and unlike 
most of the order to which it belongs, it occurs in the 
tropics of all the continents. The species vary much in 
the form of the perianth, and may be divided into very 
distinct sections, of which those with the lip expanded in a 
circular form are the most attractive. To this section 
belongs the C. speciosus, Roscoe, of India, a white-flowered 
species of great beauty, and very common in Bengal. 
The Royal Gardens are indebted to Mr. Linden for the 
plant from which the plate was executed, and which 
flowered in a stove in September of last year. 
JUNE Ist, 1885. 
