\ 
236 SCITAMINEG. (Costus. 
‘style filiform, stigma with a semilunar marginally ciliate foveola ; 
ovules many, superposed. Fruit a globose or ovoid capsule, 
finally dehiscing on one side between the ribs. Seeds obovoid 
or subglobose, aril short.—Species nearly 100, in the tropics of 
' both hemispheres. Many of them are cultivated for their hand- 
some flowers. ; 
Cc. speciosus, Smith in Trans. Linn. Soc. i, 249; Roxb. Fl.. 
Ind. 7, '8; F. B. I. vi, 250; Watt E. D.; Prain Beng.. 
Pi. 1045 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ti, 736 ; Kanjildl For. Fl. (ed. 2) 406. 
—Vern. Kust. 
An erect herbaceous plant, 4-6 ft. high. Stem somewhat woody at 
the base. Leaves subsessile arranged spirally, 6-12 in. long, oblong 
or oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, often cuspidate, glabrous above, 
silky-pubescent beneath, base rounded; sheaths coriaceous : ligule 
none. Flowers many, in dense terminal spikes 2-5 in. long ; bracts 
bright red, 3-11 in. ovate, acuminate or pungently mucronate ; 
bracteole solitary, & in. long. Calyx 14 in. long, deltoid-ovate, 
cuspidate. Corolla-tube as long as calyx; lobes ovate-oblong, — 
apiculate, lateral lobes about 1% in. long, dorsal one rather shorter ; 
lip suborbicular, white with a yellow centre, 2 in. or more in diam. ;. 
concave, plicate, crisped; disk pubescent and with a tuft of 
hairs at the base. Stamen 14-12 in. long, with a tuft of hairs at the 
base of the filament; connective petaloid, } in. broad, pubescent, 
produced into two glabrous appendages about as long as the linear 
anther-cells. Style slender, 14 in. long; stigma with a semilunar 
ciliate mouth. Capsule 2? in. in diam., globosely trigonous, red. 
Seeds black, with a white aril. 
Dehra Dun and Siwalik range, common in sal forest, and eastwards 
along the Sub-Himalayan tracts of Rohilkhand and N. Oudh, usually 
in moist shady places. Flowers during the rainy season. DIsTRIB. : 
Outer ranges of Himalaya, up to 4,000 ft., and more or less through- 
out India; also in Ceylon, Malay Pen. and Islands and in China. 
The following non-indigenous plants belonging to this family 
are occasionally cultivated within the area of this flora :— 
Kempreria GALanea, Linn. Sp. Pl. 3, Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. 15; F. B. I. 
vi, 219; Watt BE. D.; Prain Beng. Pl. 1038 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. 1%, 
726.—Vern. Chandra-mula. A stemless herb. Leaves appearing. 
with the flowers, sessile, suborbicular, 3-6 in. long, spreading flat 
on the ground. Corolla-segments lanceolate; lip white with lilac 
throat. Lateral staminodes cuneate-obovate. More or less through-- 
