60 MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Alpinia. 
during the latter half of the hot season, April and ef 
Seeds ripen, though rarely, in November, 
- Root perennial, tuberous as in ginger, &c. possessing a 
faint aromatic smell, and strorig pungent taste, like a mix- 
ture of pepper and ginger, accompanied with some degree 
of bitterness, and now ascertained to be the real Galanga 
major of the shops. Stems perennial, or at least more dur- 
able than those of herbaceous plants, nearly erect, round, 
smooth ; general length, when in flower, about six or seven 
feet; and as thick as a slender walking cane. Leaves occu- 
py from the middle of the plant upward; the lower half 
beitig inverted in leafless sheaths only ; they are short-petiol- 
ed, bifarious, lanceolar, margins white Widsowewhat callous, 
both surfaces smooth; from twelve to twenty-four inches 
long, and from four to six broad, Sheaths smooth, with a — 
short, rounded, ciliate, stipulary process above the insertion 
of the leaf. Panicle terminal, erect, oblong, crowned with 
numerous, spreading, simple dichotomous branches, each sup- 
porting from two to five, or six, pale greenish white, some- 
What fragrant flowers. Jnvolucre of Konig, in our plants 
generally two-leaved, lanceolate, first withering, then falling 
before, or while in blossom. Bractes concave, solitary at 
the divisions, and sub-divisions of the panicle. Calyx su- 
perior, sub-cylindric, smooth, white, scarcely Hestongth of the 
tube of the corol ; mouth one-toothed. Corol ; exterior bord 
of three, nearly eugtialy linear, recurved, smooth, pale: ereenis 
divisions. Inner border or lip unguiculate, somewhat ascend- 
ing, so as nearly to meet the slightly declining anther; oval’ 
or ovate oblong, concave, apex divided into two lobes by a 
pretty deep, straight fissure ; margins incurved, curled, mi- 
nutely laciniate, white, with here and there a small reddish 
speck, and two recurved fleshy, coloured hornlets at the 
base of the claw. Filament rather longer than the claw of 
the lip. Anther double, apex deeply emarginate, projecting 
Yee over the. mie of the tp Germ beneath, 
