cxxvi. sc'itamine.t:. 729 



yellow inside. Seeds many, with a crimson aril. V\. B. I. v. 6, p. 225 ; 

 Grab. Cat. p. 205 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Suppl. p. 86 ; Wight, Icon. t. 2010 ; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 708; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 4, p. 245; W^oodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. V. 12 (1899) p. 520; K. Schum. in Engler, Pflanzenreich, v. 4, 

 part 46 (]904) p. 44; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 10^9.— Flowers : Aug.-Sept. 

 Veen. iSontalxt. 



KoNKAN : Law ! Deccan : Lanoli, Wondrow ; Mahablesbwar, H. M. Birdwood. 

 Kanaka : Kala naddi near Supa, Eiichie, 1435 ! — Distrib. Throughout India ; Oejlon, 

 Malay Islands. 



5. CURCUMA, Linn. 



Steiviless herbs with tuberous rootstocks bearing sessile and long- 

 stipitate tubers. Leaves usually oblong, often yery large. Flowers in 

 dense compound spikes, vernal or sestival, and preceding, or autumnal 

 and contemporaneous with the leaves, crowned by a coma of enlarged 

 colored bracts ; lower bracts ovate, membranous, enclosing several 

 bracteolate fugacious flowers which open in succession. Calyx short, 

 cylindric, minutely toothed. Corolla-tube funnel-shaped ; corolla-lobes 

 usually ovate or oblong, the upper longer and somewhat concave. 

 Stamen 1 perfect ; filament short ; anthers not crested, with contiguous 

 cells spurred at the base ; lateral staminodes oblong, petaloid, connate 

 with the filament. Lip orbicular, with a deflexed tip. Ovary 3-celled ; 

 ovules numerous on axile placentas ; style filiform ; stigma 2-lipped, the 

 lips cihate. Fruit a tardily dehiscent globose membranous 3-valved 

 capsule. Seeds ovoid or oblong, usually arillate. — Disteib. Species 

 about 40, chiefly in S.E. Asia. 



Flowering spike vernal or festival, lateral, apart from and 

 usually appearing before the leafy spike. 



Leaves (J-10 in. long; rootstock small, emitting fleshy 

 fibres terminating in small tubers white inside ; 



corolla-lobes pink 1. C. neilgherrengis. 



Leaves 15-24 in. long ; rootstock large, of palmately 

 branched sessile tubers yellow inside ; corolla-lobes 



pink 2. C. aromatica. 



Flowering spike autumnal, rising in the centre of a pre- 

 viously formed tuft of leaves. 



Eootstock small, bearing tubers at the ends of the 

 fibres (no sessile tubers) ; tubers white inside. 



Flowers yellow 3. C. pseudomontana. 



Flowers purple 4. C. decijnens. 



Rootstock large ; tubers sessile, pale yellow inside 5. C. Amada. 



1. Curcuma neilgherrensis, Wight, Icon. v. 6 (1853) p. 16, 

 t. 2006. Whole plant with the leaves rarely reaching 16 in. high, 

 sometimes not more than 3 in. or even less before the leaves appear ; 

 rootstock small, white inside ; root-fibres numerous, slender. Leaves 

 6-10 by l2-2g in., shortly petiolate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, glabrous, narrowed at the base. Flowers biight yellow, in 

 dense vernal spikes of variable length depending on the size of the plant 

 (in well-grown specimens reaching 4 in. long by 2 in. in diam.) ; peduncles 

 of variable length with sheaths at the base; flowering bracts 1-1| in. 

 long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, pale yellowish-green, the bracts of the 

 coma dense, pink. Calyx ^ in. long, 3-toothed, split down one side. 

 Corolla-tube | in. long ; lobes oblong. Lip broadly ovate or suborbicular. 



