veined, concave and channelled ; the margin dark red and | 
recurved, especially towards the base, the extremity often 
emarginate, the underside is pale green, and the midrib is 
very prominent when it joins the petiole. Peduncle ter- 
minal, quite smooth and red, bearing one or two long cy- 
lindrical spikes, acute at the points. Flowers numerous, 
almost imbedded in the substance of the spadix. Scale 
pellucid, obtusely quadrangular, above which are placed, 
one on each side, the one-celled small anther, on a short 
filament: and between these is the pistil. Germen ovate: 
Stigma sessile, radiated: at the back is a long sharp mem- 
brane or crest. Berry oval with an acuminated point, 
quite protruded, standing out from the spadix. 
This is one of the handsomest of the tribe, and one that 
appears to have been long cultivated in our stoves. It was 
introduced from the West Indies by Captain Burien, in 1793, 
and flowers in May. The specimen here figured, was from 
a fine plant in the collection of the Edinburgh. Authors 
seem strangely to have confounded this with the Pieer 06- 
tusifolium of WitipENow, which is figured by Piumier in 
his “ Plantes d’Amérique, p. 53. t. 70, and still more accu- 
rately, by Trew, Ehret. p. 54. t. 96.; but the slightest in- 
tion of those plates will at once shew how much that 
plant is at variance with the one here given. 
Fig. 1. Flower with its Seale, 2. Pistil, 3. Stamen. 4, Berry.—Magnified. 
