Tas. 5894. 
COSTUS MALORTIEANUS. 7 
Native of Costa Rica, 
Nat. Ord. ScrraAMINEz.—Tribe CostEa, 
‘Genus Costus, Linn. ; (Endl. Gen. Plant., p. 225). 
Costus Malortieanus ; tota hirsuta, caule robusto, foliis apicem versus caulis 
subconfertis amplis late obovatis breviter petiolatis coriaceis supra atro- 
viridi zonatis, subtus glaucescentibus, vaginis brevibus longe ciliatis, 
spica brevi ovoideo-globosa, bracteis ad 15 latissime ovatis latioribus 
quam longis obtusis arcte appressis subcarinatis viridibus, floribus 
magnis, perianthio exteriore brevi campanulato breviter inaqualiter 
obtuse 8-lobo, interioris tubo flavo pubescente, laciniis 3 exterioribus 
oblongis obtusis flavis concoloribus, labelli laciniis aureis rubro fasciatis, 
3 anticis oblongo-cuneatis recurvis postico dilatato breviusculo 3-lobo 
lobis rotundatis crenato-dentatis, filamento magno lineari-oblongo medio 
dilatato apice obtuso recurvo, antheris parvis, stigmate parvo. 
Costus Malortieanus, Wendland in Hamburg Garten-und Blumenzeit. 
Vol. xix. p. 80 (1863). 
Costus elegans, Hort. 
* 
if 
This was regarded by its discoverer, Wendland, as the 
finest of the many remarkable plants he obtained during his 
travels in Northern Costa Rica, in 1857; it was introduced 
by him into the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen, in 
Hanover, whence a plant was sent to Kew, where it flowered 
in September, 1862. It is allied to C. spicatus, Roscoe, and 
C. pictus, Don (Bot. Reg. t. 1594) ; and still more to an un- — 4 
named Panama species collected by Fendler (n. 447), but 
differs abundantly from them all. : 
The genus Costus is a very large and little known one, it 
abounds in the humid districts of tropical America and 
Africa, but is rarer in Asia, where however the C. spe- 
ciosus is a great ornament of the low forests of Bengal. 
It contains many species well worthy of cultivation. 
Dezscr. Whole plant, except the flowers, hirsute, with soft 
-APRIL Ist, 1871. 
