60 MONANDRI V MONOGYNIA. Alpin'w. 



during the latter half of the hot season, April and May. 

 Seeds ripen, though rarely, in November. 



Root perennial, tuberous as in ginger, &c. possessing a 

 faint aromatic smell, and strong 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 

 being inverted in leafless sheaths only ; they are short-petiol- 

 ed, bifarious, lanceolar, margins white and somewhat 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. Involucre of Kcinig, 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 the length of the 

 tube of the corol ; month one-toothed. Corol; exterior border 

 of three, nearly equal, linear, recurved, smooth, pale greenish* 

 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 

 horizontally over the middle of the lip. Germ beneath, 

 smooth, oval, three-sided, three-celled, with only two ovula 



