22 MONANDttTA MONOGYNIA. Curcuma. 



nerally sterile, and of a deeper crimson, or purple colour, 

 than those which contain flowers. Calyx superior ; scarcely 

 one-third the length of the enrol, irregularly three-toothed, 

 pellucid. Corol funnel-shaped. Tube a little curved. 

 Border double ; exterior three-parted, the two lateral seg- 

 ments equal ; the third or upper one vaulted and crowned 

 with a subulate point ; colour a very faint yellow. Interior 

 three-parted ; lower segment, or lip, broad, deep yellow, 

 projecting, recurved, bifid ; upper or lateral segments obo- 

 vate, equal, pale yellow, nearly as long as the lip. Fila- 

 ment short. Anther double, the lower end of each lobe ter- 

 minating in a long, sharp, subulate spur. Germ beneath, 

 hairy, three-celled, with many ovula in each, attached to the 

 inner angle of the cell. Style shinier at the base, embraced 

 by the two nectarial filaments. Stigma two-lobed, crowning 

 the anther. Capsule oval, smooth, of a pale straw-colour, 

 thin and nearly pellucid ; three-celled, but without any re- 

 gular division into valves : when the seeds are ripe the elas- 

 ticity of the segment s of the arils bursts the vertex into vari- 

 ous portions, from whence the seeds are soon expelled. 

 Seeds several in each cell, arilled ; shape various, but the 

 most prevailing is oblong. Aril cut to the very base into 

 several slender, unequal, white, fleshy segments, which are 

 united to the seed round the umbilicus. !///< \gwment* two; 

 exterior spongy, with highly polished slippery, light brown 

 surface ; interior membranaceous. Perisperm pure white, 

 hard but friable, and occupies the lower half of the seed. 

 Vitellus clearer, but less white and of a tougher consistence 

 than the albumen ; it forms or occupies the upper half of the 

 seed. Embryo nearly as long as the seed, tending to be 

 clavate, both ends truncate, the upper half lodged in the 

 vitellus, and the lower in the albumen, or perisperm. 



Obs. The dry root powdered and mixed with the powder- 

 ed Avood of the Cwsalpinia Sappan makes the red powder 

 called Abeer by the Hindoos, and Phag by the Bengalees. 

 It is copiously thrown about by the natives during the Hooli, 



