ROSCOEA. 
This genus was established in the year 1805, by Sir J. E. Smith, President of the Linnean Society, 
in the second volume of his Exotic Botany, the type of it being the Roscoea purpurea, given by him 
from a drawing and specimens in Dr. Buchanan’s collection. This plant has since been introduced, and has 
frequently flowered in this country, and many additional species have been discovered in the district, or the 
vicinity of Nipal. Of Several of these the author of the present work received specimens, from his learned 
friend Dr. Wallich of Calcutta, in the year 1819, which were shortly afterwards inspected by Sir. J. E. Smith, 
then on a visit to Liverpool, who instantly recognized them as different species of this genus, and was 
enabled therefrom to confirm, and to improve its generic character, of which he afterwards drew up a more 
particular account, as under: 
“ Roscona. Smith, Exot. Bot. ii. 97. 
Ess, Cuar.—Anthera biloba, incurva, terminalis, stylum vaginans, basi bicalcarata; corolla ringens, limbo duplici ; 
labio superiore fornicato; calyx monophyllus tubulosus. 
1. BR. purpurea. Exot. Bot. tab. 108; spicd folioram vaginis obyoluta, calyce obliquo integro. 
2. RB. gracilis, spicd exsertd pauciflora laxa, calyce retuso. 
3. RK. elatior, spicd exsertd multiflora subcoarctata, calyce retuso. 
4. R. spicata; spicd exsertd multiflora coarctatd, calyce emarginato, nudo, foliis lanceolatis. 
5. R. capitata; spicd exsertd capitata multiflora, calyce bicuspidato ciliato, foliis linearibus. 
These new species all partake, more or less, of the habit of the original one, and are well distinguished 
by characters derived from the calyx, that being the part, in Roscoca, in which the real specific differences 
principally reside.” v. Trans. Lin. Soc. v. xii. p. 460. 
It is further observed by Sir J. E. Smith, that “this genus should be arranged near Hedychium and 
Kempferia, to both of which it has some points of affinity; but the striking character of the irregular 
two-lipped outer limb of the corolla, and the peculiar appendages to the base of the anthera, clearly 
distinguish it from the whole tribe.” wot. Bot. v. ii. p. 97. 
In addition to the foregoing observations, we may here be allowed to notice that in the principal 
feature upon which the more recent distinctions of the plants of the Scitaminean order are founded, the 
genus Roscoca approaches the nearest to that given in the present work under the name of Renealmia. This 
resemblance consists in the peculiar construction and position of the anther, which instead of being supported 
on a proper filament, is, in both these genera, intirely naked, and fixed in the faux of the corolla, to 
which it is bound by a short, flat, flexible ligament, inserted at the base of the upper lip of the outer 
limb. Thus forming a group of plants perfectly distinct in their botanical character, and sufficiently 
characterized by this feature only from all the rest of the tribe. 
