Tas. 4607. 
CURCUMA RoscokraAna. 
Mr. Roscoe’s Curcuma. 
Nat. Ord. ScrraMINEZ.—MonanpriA MONOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4485.) . 
Curcuma Roscoeana; radicibus e fibris plurimis tuberiferis, tuberibus parvis 
ovalibus, foliis oblongis acuminatissimis unicoloribus glabris, spica centrali 
oblonga subtetragona aurantiaca nuda, bracteis obovatis obtusissimis apice 
patentibus, anthera cristata, loculis discretis ecalcaratis. 
Curcuma Roscoeana. Wall. Plant. As..Rar. v. 1. p. 8. #. 9. (not tab. 57, as 
quoted by Dietrich.) 
At our Tab. 4435 we have given the figure of a beautiful 
Curcuma from the Iriwaddi, C. cordata of Dr. Wallich, and sent 
by that gentleman to the noble owner of Syon Gardens. ‘The 
present species is equally from Syon, and derived from the same 
source, Both are indeed well figured in the splendid ‘ Plante 
Asiaticee Rariores,’ and well described there. That zealous 
botanist accurately figures the structure of the flowers, which he 
observes “is different from’ any detected in other species, and 
in some degree invalidates the character of the genus, as it now 
stands ; for the anther is terminated, as is the case in Kempferia, 
by a large oval crest, and its base is perfectly naked (not ending 
b i — Ils resemble those of Habenaria, 
elow in two spurs): its ce dean and brosd 
being completely separated from each other by a and bi 
furrow, and vanishing upwards.” ‘The species 18 an inhabitant 
of Pegu, and the coast of Tenasserim. At Syon it flowers in 
July, and has a striking appearance, with its large spike of bright 
orange-red bracteas. : . 
Descr. Plant one to two or three feet high. oot as ort 
caudex, with many descending jidres, each generally terminated 
with a small oval ¢uber. Stem formed of the sheathing leaf- 
stalks. Leaves a foot or a foot and a half long, oblong, much 
SEPTEMBER lst, 1852. 
. 
