Alpinia, monandria monootnia. (jl 



toothed. — Coral one petalled. Tube short. Border double ; the ex- 

 fe/w three-parted; <^m«o?is nearly equal, outwardly downy, con- 

 cave, particulaily near the ends, pale ^;oenish rose coloMr ; the su- 

 perior one more remote. Interior border, or lip two-cleft, with 

 two fleshy protuberances near the base ; divisions with two-toothed 

 apices and wa-vcd maigius, colour a beautiful mixture of deep, and 

 pale rose. — Nectari/ (oi Konig and Retz.) two oblong, compressed, 

 tieshv bodies, tmbrncinsr the base of the style. — Filament short, 

 broad, much flattened. Anther double, each lobe ending in an obtuse 

 hoMilet. — Germ inferior, globular. Style lodged in the grove of the 

 lilament. Stigma clubbed, somewhat three-sided, obtuse, with acres- 

 cent-like fissure, and ciliate margin. — Capsule globular, inclining 

 to be three-sided, smooth, when rij e black, and friable, not opening 

 by sutures, but crumbling to j ieces, crowned with the permanent, 

 withered calyx, and coral, three-celled- 



3. A. brae tea I a. R. 



Leaves hmceoVdr, villous underneath. Raceme terminal, simple ; pe- 

 dicels, onefle\Aeied, i^racfes green. 



A native of the Eastern parts oi Bengal. In the Botanic Garden 

 near Calcutta it liowers in March. This is one of the smallest of our 

 East India Alpit/ias; this circumstance, and the green bractes, inime- 

 diately distinguish it from malaccensis, which is not so easily done in 

 a specific definition. 



Root biennial, or perhaps, perennial. — Stems erect, about three 

 feet high, entirely invested in the smooth sheaths of the leaves. — 

 Leaves bifavious, petioled, from ovate-oblong below, to lanceolar 

 above, fine-pointed ; the upper surface smooth, polished, deep green, 

 villous and paler underneati) ; length from six to eighteen inches. — 

 Petioles proper about an inch long, and deeply channelled. Sheaths 

 smooth, rising a little above the insertion of the proper petioles ou 

 the inside. — Raceme terminal, erect, simple, about a span long, slight- 

 ly villous ; before expansion embraced, by one or two caducous 

 sheaths. — Pedicels throughout one-flowered, round, short, and vil- 

 lous. — Bractes (or mferior perianth) solitary, one-flowered, more per- 



