Tas. 5909. 
CURCUMA ALBIFLORA. 
Native of Ceylon. 
Nat, Ord, Scrrammnraz.—Tribe ZmnGIBerez. 
Genus Curcuma, Linn. ; (Endl. Gen. Pl., p. 223). 
Curcuma albiflora ; glaberrima, foliis floribus coetaneis petiolatis ellipticis 
ovato-oblongisve acuminatis basi acutis concoloribus, scapo brevi, spica 
3-5-pollicari, bracteis oblongo-lanceolatis obtusis 2-pollicaribus erectis 
apice paulo recurvis viridibus superioribus gradatim minoribus omnibus 
floriferis, perianthio albo, exteriore spathaceo ore obliquo 2-fido, inte- 
riore subeampanulato, laciniis 3 exterioribus lineari-oblongis obtusis 
erectis, 2 interioribus obovato-oblongis, labello suborbiculari recurvo 
albo disco flavo apice emarginato, ovario gibbo, glandulis epigynis 
lineari-elongatis oblique truncatis, anthere loculis basi calcaratis, 
calearibus incurvis. 
Curcuma albiflora, Thwaites, Enum. Ceylon Pl., 316. 
A very anomalous species of a large Indian genus, native 
of Ceylon, whose roots were sent by its describer and dis- 
coverer, Dr. Thwaites, F.R.S., to the Royal Gardens in 1862, 
which flowered in July of the following year. Though 
belonging to the genus which contains the cultivated 
Turmeric and Zedoary, and various wild species of which are 
used in Oriental cookery, I am not aware that the roots of 
the plant here figured have ever been so used. a 
The genus Curcuma comprises plants of very distinct habit, 
and of these the true Turmerics, of which Curcuma longa, L., is 
the type, flower at the same time with the leaves, and have the 
lower bracts connate, so that the flowers appear to grow out 
of pouches in the spike; to this also belongs the beautiful 
C. australasie (Tab. nost. 5620) and the Zedoary, C. Zedoaria 
(Tab. nost. 1546); in all these moreover the upper bracts are 
free, flowerless, and usually very brightly-coloured. This group 
is divisible into two, according as the scapes are lateral or 
JUNE Ist, 1871. 
