cxxvi. scitamine.t;. 



(33 



6. AMOMUM, Linn. 



Herbs with elongate leafy stems and perennial extensive rootstocks. 

 Leaves usually oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in dense spikes direct from 

 the rootstock ; bracts imbricate. Calyx cylindric, 3-toothed. Corolla- 

 tube cylindric ; lobes 3, oblong or linear-oblong, the upper often broader 

 and more convex. Stamen 1 perfect ; filament short, arcuate ; anther 

 2-eelIed, the cells divaricate, sometimes hairy, often with a petaloid 

 crest ; lateral staminodes minute or obsolete. Lip broad or ligalate. 

 Ovary 3-celIed ; ovules many, superposed ; placentas axile ; style fili- 

 form ; stigma small, subglobose, or larger and dorsally gibbous. Fruit 

 indehiscent or bursting irregularly, sometimes beaked or winged or 

 echinate. Seeds globose or truncate. — Disteib. India, Malayan Archi- 

 pelago, New Guinea, Australia, Philippine Islands, China, Japan ; 

 species about 87. 



1. Amomum microstephanum, Baker, in HooTc.f. Fl. B. I, v. 6 

 (1892) p. 2;iD. A perennial herb reaching 4 ft. or more in height; 

 stems leafy. Leaves large, 20-24 by 2|-4 in., linear-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, glabrous above, silky-pubescent beneath, base tapering ; petioles 

 3-7 in. long. Flowers white, in globose shortly pedunculate spikes 

 2 in. in diam. ; exterior bracts few, oblong, glabrous, 1-1| in. long, the 

 inner bracts membranous. Calyx |-g in. long, tubular, membranous, 

 3-toothed, split down one side. Corolla-tube shorter than the calyx ; 

 lobes linear-oblong, half as long as the tube. Lip 1^ in. long, obovate. 

 Anther glabrous, | in. long ; crest small, orbicular. Capsules 9-ribbed, 

 echinate. K. Schum. in Engler, Pflauzenreich, v. 4, part 46 (1904) 

 p. 257. 



Rare. Konkan: Stocksl; near Chandavar (planted), i?/'i!;c/;;c !— Distrib. India 

 (W. Peninsula). 



7. ZINGIBER, Adans. 



Herbs with elongated leafy stems and horizontal tuberous rootstocks. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in spikes usually radical, less com- 

 monly terminal, very rarely lateral on the leafy stems ; peduncle short 

 or long ; bracts persistent, usually 1-flowered. Calyx cylindric, shortly 

 3-lobed. Corolla 3-lobed, with a cylindric tube ; lobes lanceolate, the 

 upper concave. Stamen 1 perfect ; filament short ; anther 2-celled, the 

 cells contiguous, with a narrow crest as long as themselves ; lateral 

 staminodes 0, or adnata to the obovate-cuneate lip. Ovary 3-celled ; 

 ovules many, superposed ; placentas axile ; style filiform ; stigma small, 

 subglobose. Fruit an oblong capsule, tardily dehiscent. Seeds large, 

 globose, arillate. — Distrib. Species 55, East Indies, Malaya, and New 

 Guinea ; 1 species widely cultivated throughoui the Tropics. 



Spikes produced direct from the rootstock very short and 

 dense; peduncles veiy short or 0. 



Leaves pubescent beneath ; lip yellow 1. Z. Nimiiioiiii. 



Leaves glabrous beneath ; niidlobe of lip variegated pink 



and white ; the side lobes red and yellow 2. Z. ccrmium. 



