2. Curcuma.] 156. ZINGIBERACE^. 



coma white without (in my plants) any tinge of pink. FloMers few 

 (sometimes only 2) to a bract, 1 • 75" long, yellow, not at all exserted, 

 their proper bracts white, sometimes fls, abortive and replaced by their 

 proper bract. Calyx -4" with few fine hairs, scarcely 3-lobed, split 

 about one-fourth way down behind and retuse in front. Lip -6" 

 broad pale yellow with deep yellow centre and mid-lobe, the sides 

 curved up at the margins, but scarcely forming distinct lobes and 

 rather distinguished by their colour than from any division between 

 them. Ovary rather stiffly hairy at the top only. 



Cultivated more or less in all districts ! Manbhum, Camp. ! Parasnath, 

 Clarke, " fls. all orange yellow." But I doubt whether this was wild as there is 

 cultivation on a part of Parasnath. Fl. Bept.-Oct. 



Rhizomes of a deep orange colour within. Earlier leaves ell.-oblong about 

 16" by 6" with a free petiole 3", later leaves oblong 20-24" by 5 ■ 5" with more atten- 

 uate base and free part of petiole 6-10" above the sheath, main lateral nerves 

 raised above, 20-30. Bracts connate half-way up, rounded, minutely pubescent. 

 Dorsal petal hooded and cleft and with a short sUghtly hairy horn or beak from 

 the sinus, lat. pet. ovate roimded glabrous. Apex of lip retuse. Lat. staminodes 

 large oblong with contracted inflexed tips which hide the anther and meet or over- 

 lap in front of the dorsal petal. Anther reclinate with a small yellow lamella at 

 its apex and 2 spurs in front (much as in C. amada), spins nearly as long as the 

 anther and with a swelling above each at the base of the cell. 



The rhizomes are much used in the composition of curry powders and are largely 

 used in Hindu medicine. 



10. C. reclinata, Eoxb. Bundu, K. 



A very pretty species easily distinguished from all the foregoing 

 by the small leaves, the floral bracts, not only the flowers, a deep 

 orange yellow, and the coma scarcely any but of the same colour. 



On damp banks in the forests. Singbhum ! Fl. Aug.-Sept. 



Height about 1 ft. Base of stem bulbiferous and with globose tubers -25-1" 

 diam. at the ends of the root-fibres. Leaves about 10" by 4" often bent back on 

 their 4-7"-long petioles, elliptic, acuminate or cuspidate, base unequal. Spike 

 central, 3-4" long, peduncle mostly hidden by the leaf sheaths, bracts 1 • 5-2" with 

 recurved rounded limb. Flowers orange-yellow or dark pink. Calyx inflated, 

 obscurely 3-toothed. 



The tubers are cooked and eaten by the Kols. They are called daka or da as in 

 the other species. 



This is almost certainly reclinata, but it is to be observed that Roxburgh's reclinata 

 had the flower-bracts green tinged with red and the coma bracts reddish. Our 

 species is very distinctive in its coloration. 



3. GASTROCHILUS, Wall. 



Herbs with rootstoek creeping or 0, with or without leafy stem. 

 Flowers solitary or in a few-flowered spathe or spicate, with a short 

 spathaceous calyx and long slender corolla-tube, petals equal conni- 

 vent, narrow, ascending. Lip oblong, longer than the corolla, entire. 

 Lateral staminodes petaloid broader. Filament very short, anther- 

 cells parallel, connective not crested nor spurred. Ovary oblong 

 3-celled ; ovules few or many, superposed, style filiform, stigma 

 subglobose. Fruit an oblong capsule. Seeds ovoid with a small 

 basal aril. 



L G. longiflora, Wall. 

 A beautiful herb with distichous oblong leaves 12-16" by 4-5-5", 



1136 



