PLATES 560 & 561. 



SIPHONOCHILUS. J. M. Wood & M. Franks, gen. nov. 



Characters of Kaempferia, except flowers polygamous, monoecious. Herma- 

 phrodite flowers of Kaempferia. Female flowers ; staminodes connate in a long 

 narrow tube, which is 4-6 lobed. Stamen 0. Flowers pedunculate or very shortly 

 racemose, peduncles, and ovary subterranean. 



SIPHONOCHILDS NATALENSis, Wood & Franks, nov. sp. 

 Natural Order, 



A perennial herb with showy polygamous, monoecious flowers. Rhizome sub- 

 globose, 2-3 inches diameter, aromatic, roots filiform. Leafy stem 1 to 3 feet high. 

 Leaves 5 to 1 or more, their petioles sheathed into a false stem, blades lanceolate, 

 the middle ones largest, 12 to 14 inches long, 3 to 3^ inches broad, the lowest 3 

 inches long, f inch broad, midrib prominent beneath. Flowers 3-6, proceeding 

 from the rhizome, pedunculate, solitary or very shortly racemose, bracteate at the 

 base, bracts oblong, obtuse, 9 to 14 inches long, 3 to 7 lines broad, pedicels 5 to 12 

 lines long; peduncles, braets, pedicels and ovary subterranean. Hermaphrodite 

 flowers. Calyx tubular, tridentate, membranaceous, white, 12 to 1 3 lines long, 

 slit on one side for the upper third. Corolla tube 9 to 12 lines long, lobes 3, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 2^ inches long, 7 lines broad, membranaceous, white. Stamin- 

 odes petaloid, pink, large, labellum bifid, 2 inches long and broad, connate in a 

 slit tube 2^ inches long with the two erect lateral staminodes which are 2 inches 

 long, 1J inch broad. Stamen 2 inches long. Anther linear, 2-celled, 6 lines long, 

 connective produced in a dentate crest, 9 to 14 lines long, 4 to 5 lines broad. 

 Ovary 3-celled, cells many ovuled, style filiform, stigma produced beyond the an- 

 ther cells, crateriform, 3-lobed at apex. Female flowers. Calyx and corolla of 

 hermaphrodite flowers, staminodes connate in a long cylindrical tube 3 inches long, 

 segments 4 to 6 unequal, 2-3 oblong, obtuse, If inch long, 7-9 lines broad, the 

 alternate 2-3, narrower, 1 j inch long, 3 to 4 lines broad. Stamen 0. Pistil cf 

 hermaphrodite flower. 



Habitat: NATAL: Inanda, 1,800 ft. alt. Wood 544. 'Ngoya, Zululand, 2,000- 

 3,000ft. alt, Wylie. Wood 11723. Flowered in Botanic Gardens, Durban, De- 

 cember, 1910. 



This genus differs from Kaempferia by its polygamous flowers, and from all 

 species of Kaempferia known to us, K. Ethelse only excepted, by the ovaries being 

 below the surface of the ground. A large number of the plants have been under 

 our observation during the flowering season, but very few hermaphrodite flowers 

 have been noted, the female flowers largely outnumbering them, and in no case, so 

 far as we have been able to find, have seeds been produced, the ovaries rotting in 

 the ground, though the flowers are visited by a minute "Mucid fly," the name of 

 which we have not been able to ascertain. The tube of the female flowers is very 



