242 Scitamine^. {Curcuma. 



Damp shady places about villages in the moist low country, generally 

 if not always cultivated. Fl. Jan. -March ; pale yellow. 



Also India and Malay Archipelago. 



The rootstock possesses aromatic, stimulant, and carminative pro- 

 perties, and is used as a stomachic. It is also an important article of 

 perfumery. 



C. longa., Linn. Kaha, S. Ma?ic/ial, T., the Turmeric plant, is much 

 grown in native gardens, and a good figure is given by Hermann (Hon. 

 Lugd.-Bat. t. 209). It is No. 7 of Fl. Zeyl., but certainly not a native here. 



3. C. ollgrantha^ Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxiii. 245 (1885). [Plate 

 XCII.] 



C. P. 3700. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 215. 



Tubers ovoid, oblong or elongate, i in. long or more, 

 sessile at the thickened base of the short stem, red-brown; 1. 

 4-5 in., ovate-oblong or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 undulate, thin, base acute, rounded or cordate, pale-green 

 mottled with darker, petiole 3-5 in., very slender ; flg. stem 

 2-3 in., slender, produced before the 1., basal sheaths narrow, 

 red-brown, upper shorter, very pale ; spike 4-6 in., narrow, 

 erect, few-fid. ; bracts 4-6, about i in. long, oblong, acute, 

 white or greenish, all fig., or a few empty; cal.-tube \ in., 

 inflated, membranous; cor.-tube \-\\ in., very slender, segm. 

 lanceolate, acuminate; staminodes | in., erect, broady oblong, 

 undulate, margins recurved ; lip as long as the staminodes, 

 very broad, decurved, 2-lobed, undulate ; anth. small, broadly 

 oblong ; fr. about \ in., oblong, smooth ; seeds oblong, grey, 

 shining, aril o. 



Dry stony places in the dry region; rather common. Anuradhapura 

 or Puttalam (M. Brodie) ; foot of Gunner's Quoin (H. Nevill) ; near Pan- 

 kulam, E. Prov.; below Lagalla. Y\. Aug.-October ; white, with yellow 

 stains in the throat. 



Endemic. 



4. C albiflora, Thw. Enum. 316 (1861). 

 C. P. 2737. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 215. Bot. Mag. t. 5909, 



Rootstock bearing a few small tubers at the ends of the 

 root fibres, sessile tubers o ; 1. 6-8 by 2^-3 in., oblong, acute 

 or acuminate, base rounded or cordate, bright green, quite 

 glabrous, petiole as long as the blade or longer, stout or 

 slender, deeply channelled above, dilating into a long, com- 

 pressed, green sheath, with membranous margins ; flg. stem 

 lateral from the base of the leafing stem, very short, enclosed 

 in the 1. sheaths, and bearing one or two green sheaths ; spike 

 3-5 in., oblong ; bracts all flg., all green or crossed with darker 

 transverse bands, lower 2 in. long, oblong-lanceolate, tip 



