434 SCITAMINACEAE. [Curcuma. 
the fine flavor of its subacid fruit gives it just preeminence over all others. From Tahiti 
has also come the «Fei», which grows in a few of the higher ravines o ahu. 
An accession of greater importance is the M. Mindanansis, Rumph, or M. textilis, Nees, 
the «Koffo» of Mindanao Sagres the «Abaca» of Luzon, which yields the much valued 
’ ee z 
ac. sect s i the unpalatable fruit it is easily recognized. 
~ Oth er Musaceae in cultivation are: Ravenala Madagascariensis, Adans., Strelitzia 
Reginae and S. augusta and Heliconia psittacorum, L. 
2. ZINGIBER, L. 
yx thin membranous, tubular, shortly 3-lobed. Tube of corolla 
cylindrical, with narrow lobes, the posterior lobe concave, erect or 
incurved, the lateral ones patent. Lateral staminodes wanting or adnate 
as lateral lobes to the labellum, the labellum or its middle lobe entire 
or 2-cleft, “sometimes crisp. Anther 1, on a short filament, erect oblong, 
fili 
globose stigma produced beyond the anther. Capsule oblong, irregularly 
breaking. — Rhizome horizontal, tuberous. Spike radical, or terminating 
a foliose stem, or lateral, strobilaceous (like a fir-cone); 1—3 flowers 
inside of each of the densely imbricate bracts, each single flower 
surrounded by a spathaceous bracteole. 
About 20 aa extending from the Mascarene Islands through India and Malaysia 
into Polynesi 
1, Z. Zerumbet, Roscoe, in Trans. Linn. Soc. VIII, 348. — Stem 
1—2 ft. Leaves distichous, lanceolate, 7—8‘ long, acuminate, glabrous, 
shortly stipitate on a long sheath which runs out into two ears. Scape 
closely peoKPN bracts, each 2‘ a = oid, 2—3' long, its bracts 
ost common — ct covering the ground entirely in the more open forests of 
tne; “aie zone. The make no use of it. over all pase leanic 
islands of Polynesia ary India. Nat. name: «Awapuhi». Tahitian ; «Reamoeruru> 
according to N 
nh na ant 
Nadéaud, the name «Opnhi> or <Awapuhi» applying to Amomum Corug i 
Lam., on island. Vitian name: «Beta». 
In clitretien Zz. officinale, 1 
3. CURCUMA, L. 
Calyx tubular, 3-toothed. Tube of corolla dilated above, 3-lobed, its 
lobes petaloid, teri 
ual or the posterior one longer. Labe large, 
spreading, entire or 2-lobed; the 2 lateral staminodes connate at the 
_ e narrow petaloid filament, simulating a 3-lobed filament 
with the middle lobe antheriferous. Anther 1, its cells contiguous, the 
