Tab. 6944. 

 ALPINIA zingiberika; 



Native of Slam. 



Nat. Ord. Scitaminie2E.— Tribe Zingibereje. 

 Genus Alpixia, Linn. ; {Bentli. et HooJc.f. Gen. PI. vol. iii. p. 648.) 



Alpinia zingiberina ; glaberrima, foliis breviter petiolatis lineari-oblanceolatis 

 apiculatis basi acutis, racemo suberecto contraeto, braoteia brevilms Iritis 

 obtusis scariosis, floribus breviter pedicellatis parvis erectis, corolla) tubo 

 cylindraceo calyce seqnilongo, corollas lobis 3 pallide viridilm-; lineari-oblongia 

 obtusis, dorsali lateralibus paullo major*, staminodiis corniformibus patent ibus 

 basi rubris, labello late ovato obtuso crenulato basi in angaem latum constricto, 

 disco undulato sanguineo striato, antherae loculis lineari-oblonyis connect ivo 

 dorso incrassato puberulo Iongioribus, ovario globoso puberulo, stylodiis erectis, 

 stylo fililbrmi puberulo, stigmate minuto. 



Iii the " Gardener's Chronicle " for July, 1886 (vol. xxvi. 

 ii., p. 150), Mr. Watson, of the Royal Gardens, Kew, drew 

 attention to the fact of a so-called Ginger, a native of 

 Siam, having been exhibited in the Siamese department of 

 the Health Exhibition of 1884, and which differed altogether 

 from the ginger of commerce. At the close of that Exhi- 

 bition, the collection of Siamese fruits, &c, was presented 

 by the Commissioners for that Empire to the Museum of 

 the Royal Gardens, when it was observed that the rhizomes 

 sent as ginger were very much thicker and less branched 

 than those of the officinal plant of that name, and some 

 being so fresh as to warrant the hope that they would 

 grow, they were transferred to the propagating pits under 

 Mr. Watson's care. These in July, 1880, produced flower- 

 ing stems five feet high, from one of which the accompanying 

 drawing was made. On being taken to the Herbarium it 

 was examined by Mr. Baker, who identified it with an 

 unnamed species of Alpinia sent by the late Sir Robert 

 Schomburgk from Siam, but without any reference to its 

 properties, or even to its being a cultivated plant. This is 

 really all that is known of the history of the so-called Siam 

 Ginger, and we are still in ignorance as to whether it is a 

 wild or cultivated plant, and if the latter, whether it is 



JULY 1st, 1887. 



