Amomum. mokakdria monogynia. 43 



5. A. dealbalum. R. 



Leaves broad-lanceolar, villous underneath. Spikes radical. 

 Bractes lanceolate, obtuse, (very perishable.) Exterior bor- 

 der vaulted. Lip round-oval. Crest of one, broad, trun- 

 cated lobe. Capsules ovate-oblong, nine-winged. 



A stately species, a native of Chittagong, and other coun- 

 tries which form the eastern frontier of Bengal : from the 

 former it has been introduced into the Botanic garden near 

 Calcutta, where it grows luxuriantly, and flowers freely dur- 

 ing the months of March and April ; and the seeds ripen in 

 September and October. 



Roots perennial, tuberous, crooked, jointed, creeping, like 

 common ginger, with strong, fleshy fibres ; inward colour of 

 the tubers pale dull yellow, and when newly cut consider- 

 ably aromatic. Stems numerous, erect in the centre, and 

 oblique in the circumference of the clump, from three to five 

 feet high. Leaves sub-bifarious, the lower sessile on their 

 sheaths and oblong, ihe superior short-petioled and lanceolar; 

 all are very villous, and paler underneath, length from six to 

 twenty-four inches, breadth from three to six. Sheaths smooth, 

 rising in a bifid lig-ula above the mouth. Spikes radical, 

 roundish-obovate. Scape short and imbricated with scales, &c. 

 Bractes from ovate to lanceolate, obtuse, very perishable, pale, 

 one-flowered. In this species there is no inner bracte, like an 

 interior calyx attached to the base of the germ, so general in 

 this natural order. Flacers numerous, large, white. Calyx 

 superior, rather longer than the tube of the corol, three-cleft, 

 and the bractes very perishable. Corol ; tube short, the three 

 exterior segments of the border form a vault over the anther, 

 they are linear-oblong, and nearly equal. Lip broad-oval, 

 emarginate; margins curled, white, with a little yellow in 

 the centre. Filament short. Anther linear, crowned w ith an 

 entire, broad, truncate, pure w hite crest. Germ short pedicel- 

 led, three-celled, &c. as in the genus. Capsules ovate-oblong, 

 size of a nutmeg, nine-winged, three-celled, but I have not ob- 

 served them separate into valves. Seeds many, shape various, 



