7. Zingiber.] 156. ZINGIBERACE.S. 



2. L. over 1" broad. Flowers yellow : — ■ 



a. Spikes long-peduncled. very stout : — 



ri. -bracts usually green. Lobes of lip orbi- 

 cular. Heads usuallywith broad rounded top 4. zerumhet. 



n. -bracts usually deep red, hairy. Lobes of 

 lip oblong. Heads usually conical . . 5. casumioiar. 



b. Spikes scarcely peduncled, oblong . . . var. palamaunsis. 

 II. Spike terminating the leafy stem . . . .6. capitahtm. 



1. Z. rubens, Eoxb. 



Leafy stem 3-4 ft. high with narrowly elHptic-oblong erecto-patent 

 leaves of which the larger are about 16" l:)y 4", paler and thinly ap- 

 pressed hairy beneath, and with minute glistening glands in the fresh 

 plant. Flowers 1 • 7" (to tip of dorsal petal), red, in small narrow 

 heads 1 • 5-2" long only, sessile from the base of the stem or with a 

 peduncle (under the surface of the ground) 1" long. Bracts not closely 

 imbricate (as in the Casumunar group), but free, linear-oblong, red, 

 flowering 1-2". Calyx spathaceous membranous. Corolla-tube \-2". 

 Lip linear-oblong, -9", expanded at the base then recurved and 

 with recurved undulate margins, white, beautifullj^ veined or spotted 

 with red, puberulous. Stamen shorter, red, arching over the lip, 

 appendage or beak incurved. 



Ranchi, over 2000 ft. ! Fl. Aug.-Sept. Fr. Sept. 



Stem above with minute sparse hairs. Leaves sometimes 4-5" broad: there 

 is often a very small one (2" only) at the base of the stem, tip with a slender but 

 not filiform acumen. Ligule membranous. -4- -5". Spike with about 2 basal 

 barren oblong boat-shaped (longitudinally concave) obtuse red bracts 1" long. 

 Opposed to each flowering bract is a linear convolute notched hairy bract. Cor.- 

 lobes, linear acuminate red, -8". Staminodes or basal lip auricles or minute. 

 Ovary pubescent. Stigma simple with a ring of terminal short hairs. Capsule 

 reddish, slightly compressed or angled, straight or slightly ciu-ved. lanceolar in 

 outline, hairy. Seeds -2" long, 3 in each cell, oblong, red-streaked, completely 

 enclosed in a white aril which is lobed at the apex. 



2. Z. roseum, Rose. Syn. Amomum roseum, Roxb. {Cor. PI.). 

 Leaf}" stem about 4-4-5 ft. high with ascending distichous leaves 



16" by 3-5" indistinguishable from those of Z. rubens. Heads oblong, 

 3", with bright red bracts, lowest one or two empty, • 75-1" long, 

 next narrow-oblong 1-5" by -3", obtuse or refuse inner lanceolate, all, 

 but especially the inner hairy. Flower about 2" long, corolla bright 

 red. Lip oblong recurved and with a recurved crisped margin, 

 broad short lateral segments or flanges and a sub-3-lobed terminal 

 segment, pale with or without light red markings. Basal auricles 

 small, obtuse. Stamen as long as the lip or a little shorter, bright 

 yellow. 



Sal forests in Singbhum, frequent in moist situations ! Fl. Aug.-Sept. 



These two species may be the same, although the drawings with weak and strong 

 inflorescence respectively look very different. Mine were described from actual 

 living specimens, but with an interval of 14 years, and if the spotting and colouring 

 is less important than supposed, rosevm might well be a form of rubens with a more 

 robust inflorescence. Neither Eoscoe nor lioxbtirqh gives the colour of the stamen 

 in roseum. My flowers are exactly those of Roxburgh' s Amomum roseum, but the 

 lower bracts are shown in his figure (Cor. PI. A. 126)«'? orate&ixd upper as lanceolate, 

 Clarke has also collected this species from Chota Nagpur and in his specimen all 

 the bracts are oblong. Roxbimjh describes the leaves of both species as smooth 

 (i. e. glabrous), and the lip of both as entire. Of roseum he says that the colour 

 is a mixture of red and yellow. 



1142 



