of the congeners of our species. The one to which the — 
name is at present more usually misapplied is that 
described as A. mutica at t. 6908 of this work, which, 
however, differs from the true A. mutica here depicted in 
having much stouter flower-buds, and in possessing a 
labellum which is not distinctly 3-lobed. For the detec- 
tion of the error which has crept into horticultural lists, 
and for the successful reintroduction of the true plant we 
are indebted to Mr. H. N. Ridley, by whom, while he 
was still Director of the Botanic Garden at Singapore, 
the plant from which our figure has been prepared was 
transmitted to Kew. Grown in a tropical house under 
the conditions most suitable for species of Hedychium 
and for other species of Alpinia, such as A. nutans which 
was figured at t. 1903 of this work, it has thriven well, 
flowering for the first time in July, 1914, along with the 
species which in English collections has for a quarter of 
a century usurped its name, and enabling the difference 
between the two plants to be objectively appreciated. 
What the spurious A. mutica figured in our pages in 1889 
may be is still a matter of some debate. Mr. Ridley 
has regarded it as identical with A. assimilis, Ridl., a 
Species described by him in 1899, but the late Dr. 
Schumann has treated it as a form of A. malaccensis, 
Roscoe, a figure of which is to be found in the Botanical 
Register at t. 328. It may be incidentally mentioned 
that at one time Dr. Schumann himself applied the name 
A, mutica to yet another species from Borneo, which he 
subsequently recognised as specifically distinct under the 
_ name A. Korthalsii, K. Schum. The nearest affinity of 
the true A. mutica, Roxb., is, as Mr. Wright has indicated, 
with A, calcarata, Roscoe. The two species are, however, 
very readily distinguished by their differently shaped 
labellum, which in A. mutica has two basal hirsute glands 
instead of the spurs met with in that of A. calcarata. 
Descriprion.— Herb, perennial, stems 6-8 ft. high. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 1—2 ft. long, 1-24 in. 
wide, glabrous save for the ciliate edges; petiole $ in. 
long, channelled above; ligule short, erose ; sheath 
reaching 9 in. in length. Panicle terminal, erect ; rachis 
pilose ; bracts oblong, caducous. Calyx white with a 
