o0'2 CXXXIV. SCITAMINE^ (bAKEr). [Costus. 



13. C. giganteus, Welw. ex Ridley in Journ. Bot. 1887, 131. 

 Terrestrial. Rootstock creeping. Leafy stems erect, very stout, 

 reaching to a length of 20-24 ft. Leaves 1-2 ft. long, 4-5 in. broad 

 above the middle, acute, quite glabrous on both sides, narrowed 

 gradually to a short broad petiole ; ligule truncate, above \ in. long. 

 Scapes in tufts from the. rootstock, 4-10 ft. long, \\ in. diam. ; spikes 

 oblong, 5-G in. long, 3-4 in. diam. ; lower bracts, 2| in. broad. Calyx 

 \ in. long; lobes shorter than the tube. Corolla-lobes oblong, acute, 

 2 in. long. Lip not much longer than the corolla-lobes, fimbriate at 

 the margin ; anther placed above the middle of its acute petaloid 

 connective. — Schumann in Engl. Jahrb. xv. 422. 



^o'wer Guinea. St. Thomas and Princes Islands, Mann, 1146 I Island of 

 St. Thomas; Mount CafFe, by streams in primeval woods, 2000-2800 ft., Welwitsch, 

 6465! 



4. AMOMUM, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 644. 



Calyx funnel-shaped, obscurely toothed, shortly slit down one side. 

 Corolla-tube cylindrical, not much longer than the calyx ; upper lobe 

 arcuate, oblong-navicular, 2 lower spreading, lanceolate. Lateral 

 staminodia suppressed ; lip large, petaloid, usually obovate-cuneate : 

 fertile stamen with a narrow or filiform filament, two divergent 

 anther-cells and, in the Tropical African species, a 3-lobed petaloid 

 crest. Ovary 3 -celled ; ovules many in a cell ; style filiform ; stigma 

 subglobose, ciliate round the margin ; stylodia gland-like, fleshy. 

 Fruit ovoid, acuminate, with a thick fleshy pericarp. Seeds subglobose 

 or angled by pressure, with a thin papery aril and straight central 

 embryo. — Rootstock not fleshy. Leafy stem distinct from the flower- 

 ing stems. Flowers solitary or in dense spikes, with imbricate scariose 

 bracts. Lip large and decorative. Seeds of some of the species 

 aromatic (Grains of Paradise). 



Species 100, the others Tropical Asiatic and Polynesian. 



''Flower-spikes sessile or shortly peduncled. 

 Lip large, obovate-cuneate. 

 Flowers solitary. 



Fruit not sulcate vertically. 



Crest of anther ovate cuspidate . . .1. A. arundinaceum. 



Crest of anther square . . . . . 2. A. Melegueta, 



Fruit sulcate vertically . . . . . "6. A. sulcatum. 



Flowers few in a spike. 

 Leaves glabrous. 



Leaves l.\-l^ in. broad. 



Leafy stem 2-3 ft. long . . . . ^. A, alhoviolaceum. 



Leafy stem 4-5 ft. long , . . .5. A.Grannm-Paradisi . 



Leaves 2-3 in. broad. 



Leaves narrowed to the base. 

 Leaves subsessile. 



