30 MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Curcuma. 



well, and blossom in May, at which time it is by ar the most 

 beautiful, and the largest of the genus, I have yet seen. 



Bulbs very large, oval, inwardly of a pale ochraeous co- 

 lour. Palmate tubers scarcely any. Pendulous tubers lan- 

 ceolar, and connected to the bulb by uncommonly long, thick, 

 fibrous cords. Leaves bifarious, petioled on their sheaths, lan- 

 ceolar, smooth, and green in every part, except in those which 

 appear first in the season, which have a faint ferruginous 

 cloud on the centre of the upper surface beyond the middle ; 

 from two to three feet long ; the petioles with their sheathing 

 bases measuring about as much more, making the whole 

 height of the plant five or six feet. Spikes lateral, appear- 

 ing rather before the leaves, short-scaped, large, clavate. 

 Fertile bractes of a beautiful pale pink. Barren ones of the 

 coma a deep, lively, rosy red ; on account of the beauty and 

 size of this part, I have given it the trivial name comosa, 

 Corol with the exterior border pink; inner pale yellow. 



10. C. leucorrhiza. R. 



Bulbs ovate ; plamate tubers long and far-spreading, like 

 the former they are inwardly of a pale straw colour. Leaves 

 petioled, broad-lanceolar, smooth, of an uniform green in 

 every part. Spikes few-flowered, with a coma as long as the 

 fertile portion. 



A native of the forests of Bahar. From Bhagulpore Mr. 

 John Glass, the surgeon of that station, sent roots to this gar- 

 den, under the name Tikor; and observed that the plant is 

 not cultivated, but grows in the jungles, to the southward of 

 that place. The process, he says, for obtaining the starchy 

 substance called Tikor, is as follows : " The root is dug up, 

 and rubbed on a stone, or beat in a mortar, and afterwards 

 rubbed in water with the hand, and strained through a cloth ; 

 the fecula having subsided, the water is poured off, and the 

 Tikor, (fecula,) dried for use." 



This plant grows freely in the Botanic garden, and flowers 

 in May. Here the palmate, or horizontal tubers, are particu- 



