CURCUMA. 



petioles slender and channelled. Spike radical, from 4 to 6 inches long, 

 separate from the leaves, crowned with a lively purple coma. Bracts 

 ovate-cordate, obtuse. Flowers large, longer than their bracts, bright 

 yellow, expanding at sunrise, and decaying at sunset of the same day. 

 Tube of corolla somewhat gibbous, contracted at the mouth, and there 

 shut in with short hairs: throat campanulate; exterior border pale 

 yellow, consisting of one large, vaulted, upper segment, and two lower, 

 oblong, smaller, concave ones ; inner border 3-parted : the lip roundish, 

 emarginate, or bifid, upper segments obovate, cuneate, with the filament 

 between them. Tubers produce excellent Arrow Root, sold in the 

 markets of Benares, and eaten by the natives. 



1191. C. Amada Roxb.fi. ind. i. 33. Bengal. 



Tubers horizontal, palmate, sessile, united to the sides of an ovate- 

 conic bud of the same colour, which gives rise to the leaves and spike ; 

 from its sides and base long fleshy fibres issue, which penetrate deep 

 into the soil : some of them ending in oblong, paler (pendulous) tubers. 

 Leaves radical, bifarious, petioled above their sheaths, lanceolate, 

 cuspidate, smooth on both sides ; from 6 to 18 inches long, by 3 to 6 

 broad. Scape central, about 6 inches long, invested by several alternate 

 sheaths. Spike shorter than the scape, cylindrical, with a loose, 

 coloured, pale rose coma. Bracts oblong, imbricated, the lower half of 

 their margins united to the backs of the two next above, forming a 

 pouch for a fascicle of 4 or 5, rather small, yellow flowers, which expand 

 in succession. Calyx superior, unequally 3- toothed. Corolla with a 

 slender tube; its mouth shut with 3 yellow hairy glands; faux sub- 

 campanulate. Border double, each 3-cleft. Called by the Bengalees, 

 " Amada," or Mango ginger, the fresh root possessing the peculiar smell 

 of a fresh Mango. 



K^EMPFERIA. 



Tube of corolla long, filiform ; limb somewhat 2-lipped, each 

 lip 3-parted. Filament short, expanded above the anther into a 

 bifid crest. Capsule 3-celled, many-seeded. Plants with the 

 habit of Curcuma ; bracts often imbricated in 2 rows, rarely 

 saccate. JBlume. 



1192. K. Galanga Linn. sp. pi. 3. Eoxb.fi. ind. i. 15. 

 Alpinia sessilis Konig in Retz. obs. iii. 62. (IRumpTi. v. t. 69. 

 f. 2.) Common in India both on the continent and islands. 



Rhizoma biennial, tuberous, with fleshy fibres from the tubers. Stem 

 none. Leaves stalked, spreading flat on the surface of the earth, round- 

 ovate-cordate, between acute and obtuse; margins membranaceous, 

 and waved ; upper surface smooth, deep green ; taper and somewhat 

 woolly towards the base; streaked lengthways with 10 or 12 slender 

 lines. Flowers collected in small fascicles, from 6 to 12 within the 

 sheaths of the leaves, expanding in succession ; pure, pellucid white, 

 except a purple spot on the centre of each of the divisions of the inner 

 series. Bracts 3 to each flower, 1 larger and exterior, 2 inte- 

 rior and lateral ; all linear, acute, membranous, and half the length 

 of the tube of the corolla. Calyx the length of the bracts. Tube of 

 corolla long, filiform ; limb double, both series 3-parted ; exterior divi- 

 sions all linear, acute ; of the interior, the upper two ovate, erect, the 

 563 o o 2 



