intfis ssepissime cava, came lacteS, molli ; suspensa filis longis, carnosis, pallidis, a basi valdfe crassa sensiin attenuatis, apice gracilibus. 

 Caulis crassus, compressus, villosulus, 6— 8-pollicaris, constans vaginis bifari^ imbricatis, dorso rufesceiitibus, supernfe liberis, apice 

 ©btus^ bidentatis. Petioli erecto-patentes, subbifarii, canaliculati, villosi, folium longitudine subaiqiiantes. Folia ampla, lO-poUi- 

 caria ad pedalia, quin majora, ovata, acuminata, basi cordata vel retusa, nunc rotundata, membranaceo-marginulata, plana, oblique 

 sulcata, villis sericeis, laxis obsita, uniformiter saturate viridia ; suprk nitida, subtus mollissima, pallida, costa prominente, pilosl Spica 

 centralis petiolorum, vix apicem interiorum longiorum attingens, erecta, cylindrico-oblonga, 6— 8-pollicaris, uncias 2 lata, ornata cotnd 

 violacea, lucida, bracteis constante summis, vacuis, reliquis paul6 longioribus, iisdemque solutioribus, apice fiisco-sanguineis ; suffulta 

 scAPO cylindrico, pennam cygneam terh crasso, salva apice 2-pollicari, vaginis foliorum recondito. Bracte^ ovatse, quinquefari^ ordi- 

 natae,^ obtusissimse, villosae, 2— S-florse, limbo brevi, rotundato, par^im recurvo, ssepi^s dilute purpureo ; fauce ampia, excavata. Flores 

 magni, flavi, supra faucem bractearum parilm elevati. Calyx brevis, clavatus, ore contracto, crenulato. Corolla tubus gracilis, 

 cylindricus, calyce angustior, eodemque triple longior, pallidus, supern^ ampliatus in limbum magnum, campanulatum, fauce ventricoso^ 

 inflatum. Lacini^ exteriores 3 tenulssimse, ovatse, acutee, dilutissim^ rosese ; suprema subcucullata, infra apicem cuspidata ; inte- 

 riorum 2 superiores alt^ connatae, introrsum plicatse et conniventes, acutae ; inferior, sive labellum, magnum, flavum, infundibuliforme, 

 limbo leviter porrecto, obtus^ bilobo. Anthera magna, sagittata, filamento difformi, lato, brevi, sinui laciniarum superiorum et inte- 

 riorum inserto. 



This noble species is so very like Curcuma pettolata Roxb. (beautifully figured in Mr. Roscoe's splendid work on 

 ScitaminecB), that I considered it, at the time I found it, as a large variety only of that plant. But subsequent 

 examination and comparison of these plants in the Honourable Company's botanic garden at Calcutta, has induced 

 me to separate them as two distinct species. Ours is much larger and more stately, having all its green parts 

 beset with long, adpressed, silky hairs. Tlie leaves are more decidedly cordate ; they are soft and villous, while in 

 the other plant they are perfectly smooth. The spike is villous ; its crown, or- coma, glossy and purple, each of 

 its bracts being besides tipped with a dark-red, brownish spot ; a purple or lilac tinge always extends more or less 

 downwards upon the exterior margins of the fertile bracts, and sometimes it even reaches those at the base of 

 the spike. In Roxburgh's species the spike is smooth, and the coma of a uniform lilac colour. Our plant grows 

 only, as far as my observation goes, among the thick bamboo forest on the hills opposite Prome ; the other is, I 

 believe, limited to Pegu, where I found it in abundance about Rangoon, in flower in August. 



Plate X. Fig. 1. Flower with its proper bract. 2. The same, having the dorsal lobe of the outer limb turned down to show the 

 inner limb. 3. The same, with all the outer lobes detached, and the inner and upper ones somewhat expanded. 4. Inner and upper 

 lobes of the corolla, with the anther between them. 



MELANORRHOEA. 



• 



Sepala 5 in calycem calyptraceum, 5-nervium, caducum, valvatim cohaerentia. Petala 5, raro 6, aestivatione 

 imbricantia, persistentia, infra fructum aucta. Stamina plura, distincta, toro convexo inserta. Pistillum 1. 

 Ovarium oblique lenticulare, stipitatum, 1-loculare, 1-sporum : ovulo suspenso chorda funiculari libera, e fundo 

 loculi adscendente. Stylus lateralis verticis ovarii. Stigma parvum, convexum. Fructus indehiscens, coriaceus, 

 depresso-reniformis, obliquus, pedicellatus, involucro coroUino stellatim patente, maximo suffultus. Semen exalbu- 

 minosum, decumbens. Cotyledones carnosse, crassae. Radicula lateralis, adscendens et in commlssuram cotyle- 

 doneam replicata. 



Classis Linnaeana, Polyandria Monogynia. 



Ordo naturalis, Terebinthacearum tribus AmcardecB, Brown. 



Habitus : Arbores magnae facie Semecarpi, omnibus partibus scatentes succo viscido, ferrugineo, a contactu atmo- 

 sphgerico cito in atrum converso ; coma late protensa ; folia ampla, coriacea, simplicia, integerrima, decidua, pen- 

 ninervia. Paniculce florum . axillares, oblongae ; fructuum amplae, laxae, involucris maximis, rufis, demum ferrugineis 

 ornatae. 



Obs. Characteres generici quoad florem praecipue a M. glabra, quoad fructum a M. usitata desumpti ; habitus fere 



totus posteriorem speciem respicit. 



MELANORRHCEA usitata. Tab ll & 12. 



FoLiis obovatis, obtusissiinis, villosis. 



Provenit in convalle magna, Kubbu dicta, regni Munipuriani Hindustaniae, Sillet et Tipperse contermini ; in imperio 



D 



