ON THE GENUS HEDYCHIUM. 23 



which it is likewise compared, it diifers, among other poiuts, by 

 having the long linear anther usual in the genus. The tlower is 

 said to be of a pale yellow colour, with a bright orange-coloured 

 filament, and emitting a spicy fragrance. 



14:. H. anifustifoliuui ; foliis approximates bifariis oblongis basi 

 rotundatis ; spica sexfaria, bracteis ternatim verticillatis 

 ."3 — 4-floris ; labello longe unguiculato profunde bilobo obtuso, 

 stamine valde porrecto. 



H. angustifolium, Roxh. Fl. Iiul. i. p. 1 I et &2 (uota Wall.); 

 Bot. Rey. t. 157 {excl. syn. H. coccinei). Bot. Maij. t. 2078 

 (excl. eod. syn.). 



H. aurantiacum, Rose. Mon. Fl. u. (51. 



H. coccineum, Bot. Cab. viii. n. 705. 



Wild in Kasia, Griffith, Hooker, and Thonson ; Gualpora, 

 F. Thunilton ; Upper Assam, Griffith and Mrs. Mack ; Sikkim and 

 the low forest tract called Turraye, bordering on that country, 

 Hooker ; Chittagong, Ceylou ? Mrs. General Walker. 



The species, as far as I know, is confined to the eastern part 

 of Hindustan ; 1 never saw it in Nipal, nor had it from the west- 

 ward. The leaves are rigidly bifarious, not glaucous ; their base 

 obtuse and rounded, and the sides bent down. The spike is 

 sexfarious, owing to the flowers, disposed in whorls of threes, 

 legularly alternating with each other ; which is peculiarly 

 conspicuous before their expansion. With exception of the 

 colour, Roscoe's figure of H. aurantiacum, which I have quoted, 

 is a perfect representation of our species. I quite agree in the 

 remark of that author (under his H. angustifolium, which, however, 

 I have expressly omitted quoting,) that the figure in Roxburgh's 

 Coromandel Plants belongs to H. coccineum, while the description 

 is that of H. angustifolium, it being Roxburgh's own species. I had 

 long before come to the same conclusion in regard to his original 

 drawing, preserved at the Calcutta Garden. No botanical author 

 was ever more conscientiously accurate or trustworthy than 

 Roxburgh ; but in this instance an error seems to have crept in, 

 which 1 attribute to his painter having drawn a plant, raised from 

 seeds or rhizomas sent down by Dr. Hamilton from Nipal, 

 where H. angustifolium does not grow, but histead of it, the nearly 

 allied if not identical H. coccineum. 



15. H. coccineum, ; foliis ensiformibus basi acutiusculis spicaque 

 glaucis, nuncpube parca subtus conspersis, bracteis 3 — 6-fioris, 



