Tas. 8621. 
ALPINIA mutica. 
Malaya. 
ScIraAMINEAE. Tribe ZINGIBERACEAE. 
Aupinia, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 648; K. Schum. in 
Engl. Pflanzenr.—Zingib. p. 308. : 
Alpinia mutica, Roxb. in Asiat. Researches, vol. xi. p. 354; Hort. Beng. 
p. 2; Fl. Ind. ed. 1, vol. i. p. 65; Rosc. Monandr. Pl. t. 69; Horan. 
Monogr. Scit. p. 34; Baker in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. vi. p. 254; 
| K. Schum. in Engl. Pfhlanzenr.—Zingib. p. 827, non Hook. St. nec K. 
tai species A. calcaratae, Rosc., affinis, labello trilobato ecalcarato 
iffert. 
_ Herba perennis. Caules 2m. alti. Folia lineari-lanceolata, acuminata, 30-60 dm. 
longa, 2°5-6 em. lata, marginibus ciliatis exceptis glabra; petiolus 2 cm. 
longus, supra canaliculatus; ligula brevis, erosa ; vagina usque ad 22 em. 
longa. Panicula terminalis, erecta; rhachis pilosa; bracteae oblongae, 
caducae. Calyx albus apice roseo-tincto, spathaceus, breviter 3-lobus, 
pubescens, 2 cm. longus; tubus viridis, subglobosus, pilosus. Petalaalba, 
late oblanceolata, obtusa, 8°5 em. longa, 1 cm. lata. Staminodia lateralia 
brevissima, apice crenulata. Labellwm obtuse 3-lobum, 4 cm. longum, 
3 cm. latum, concavum, basi pulvinis duobus pubescentibus instructum, 
flavum, lobus terminalis rubro-venosus, lobi laterales rubro-punctati. 
Antherae loculi oblongi; connectivum haud productum. Stylus parte 
superiore curvatus, apice discoideo ciliatoque.—Renealmia mutica, Salish. 
in Trans. Hort. Soc. vol. i. p. 280.—C. H. Wricut. 
The Alpinia here figured was first described as A. mutica 
in 1810 by Roxburgh, who had obtained it from Penang, 
then known as Prince of Wales’ Island, and cultivated it 
in the Hon. East India Company’s Botanic Garden at 
Calcutta, where it flowered during the greater part of 
the year, though most profusely during the hot weather. 
Its introduction to European cultivation must have been 
almost simultaneous with its advent to India, for in 1812 
Salisbury mentioned it as having then “flowered for 
three years successively in the stove of the Comtesse 
de Vandes at Bayswater.” In 1828 Roscoe referred to 
it as flowering regularly in August in the Liverpool 
Botanic Garden. At a later date it became rare in 
British collections, and seems eventually to have dis- 
appeared from cultivation, though the name survived 
and became erroneously associated with more than one 
Aveust, 1915, 
