Row.LEE: GENus Costus IN CENTRAL AMERICA — 289 
It agrees with C. Bakeri in having an appendiculate, cylindri- 
cal spike, often much shortened, but the color is more brilliantly 
red, making the spike very conspicuous. The appendages, 
moreover, differ in being shorter and less striking. The species 
is further characterized by the peculiar vesture of the very 
opaque leaves, the upper surface being clothed with shorter 
bulbous hairs, all pointing toward the apex, while the lower 
surface is densely covered by a tawny tomentum. The plants 
are large, often 5-7 m. high, and the spike is about the size of 
an ear of corn. 
According to the original account C. lima is related to C. 
Friedrichsenit O. G. Peters., a species described from plants 
cultivated at Berlin. Dr. Schumann states that it was probably 
introduced from Central America, but the writer has seen no 
specimen agreeing with the description. 
7. Costus MALORTIEANUS Wendl. MHamb. Garten- u. 
: Blumenzeit. 19: 30. 1863 
So far as the writer’s observations go C. Malortieanus is 
confined to the coastal plains of northeastern Costa Rica. The 
type locality is near the Sarapiqui River at the head of navigation, 
and the original description was drawn from specimens cultivated 
in Germany. The species grows also along the Reventazon 
River, where it emerges on to the lowlands. It is the gem of 
the genus. The plants are small, being less than 1 nt. high, and 
grow in wide spreading mats, flowering in July and August. 
The flowers, which are not freely produced, are very beautiful, 
suggesting in their tints some of the tropical orchids. The 
leaves are broadly obovate, densely hairy, and obscurely variegat- 
ed with darker and lighter threads of green. Specimens in the 
greenhouses of the New York Botanical Garden, although under 
cultivation for several years, have not as yet produced flowers. 
Two other species of tropical North America with unappen- 
daged bracts and no callose have beendescribed under the names 
C. pictus D. Don, and C. mexicanus Liebm. Specimens of the 
first two have not been found by the writer, but both are ap- 
parently of Mexican origin, C. pictus being based on plants 
grown in England. 
