Tab. 6999. 

 KCEMPFERIA secunda. 



Native of the Assam Hills. 



Nat. Old. SCITAMINE-E. — Tribe ZlNGIBEBEiE. 



Genus Kcempfeeia, Linn. ; {Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. PL vol. iii. p. Gil.) 



K(empferia secunda; caule erecto folioso, foliis membranaceis oblique ovato- 

 lanceolatis caudato-acuminatis, spicis terminalibus sessilibus pauciflons, 

 bracteis exterioribus vaginantibus in acumen sensim productis, calyce tubuloso 

 fisso, corolla tubo gracili elongato, lobis oblongo-lanceolatis acuminate, sta- 

 minodiis patentibus roseis, lateralibus oblongo-rotundatis obtusis, labello 

 multo majore rotundato obtuse 2-fido, connectivo in laminam oblongam 

 obtusam reflexam producto, fructu parvo ovoideo poljspermo, semmibus, 

 oblongo-cylindraceis. 



Kcempferia secunda, Wall, in Roxb. Fl. Ind. vol. i. p. 19. 



Monolophus secundus, Wall. PI. As. Bar. vol. i. p. 24 ; Soraninov Prodr. 

 Monogr. Scitam. p. 22. 



Wallich, in the Plantoe Asiatica Rariores, proposed _ for 

 his Kcempferia secunda and several allied plants, a distinct 

 genus, to be called Monolophus, distinguished from Kmmp- 

 feria by its leafy stem, terminal few-flowered spikes, and 

 the broad crest of the anther ; and the genus was taken 

 up by Horaninov. Bentham has, however, rightly referred 

 the species thus kept apart back to Koempferia, of which, 

 indeed, they hardly form a section. 



K. secunda is a very common plant in the Khasia Moun- 

 tains, south of the Assam Valley, at elevations of 3000 to 

 4000 feet, where it grows in wet grassy and rocky places. 

 The same, or a very closely allied species, occurs in Moul- 

 mayne ; and a similar plant which may not differ specifically 

 was found by the late Dr. Hance in the neighbourhood 

 of the Buddhist Monasteries of Fi-loi-tsz, on the Canton 

 River. It is not possible from dried specimens to identity 

 absolutely these latter with K. secunda. Another quite 

 distinct species abounds in the Khasia Mountains, and is 

 also found in Sikkim ; it is the K. linearis, Wall. ; it has 

 narrower leaves and a much narrower lip. w allien de- 

 scribes the calyx of K. secunda as hairy, which is not the 



June 1st, 1888. 



