ALPINIA ALLUGHAS. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
eae nee ete ee ee | 
SECT. II. SCITAMINER,. 
Gey. Cuar.—Anther double, embracing the style, attached to the front of the filament; filament simple, erect, 
not extending beyond the anther; inner border of the corolla unilabiate ; capsule three-celled. 
Srec. Cuar.—Stem erect ; panicle terminal; inner border of corolla deeply divided into two sections, each section 
bifid, with a fleshy protuberance at the base ; leaves lanceolate, smooth, finely nerved. 
Syv.—Mala-inschi-Kua. Rheede, Mal. xi. p. 29. t. 4. 
Hellenia Allughas. Linn. Willd. i. 4, 
Heritiera Allughas. Konig. in Retz. Obs. 6. 1. 
Taraca. Str Win. Jones, in Asiat. Res. iv. 240. 
Tara, or Tarac of the Bengalese. Rowh. in Asiat. Res. xi. 353. 
Alpinia Allughas. Roxb. in Flor. Ind. i. 60. 
Hellenia Allughas. Andrews, Bot. Rep. t. 501. 
Hellenia Allughas. Roem. § Schultes, i. 22. 
Alpinia Allughas, foliis lanceolatis nitidis, utrinque attenuatis, panicula terminali, labello bifido, lobis retusis, 
capsulis spheericis nitidis polyspermis. Spreng. i. 14. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root tuberous, with many thick fibres, perennial, aromatic; stem erect, slightly compressed, 2—3 feet high ; 
leaves alternate, bifarious, lanceolate, smooth, equilateral, finely nerved, short petioled, petioles sheathing the 
stem, with a stipulary process above the insertion of the leaf; panicle terminal, slightly inclined to one side ; 
flowers in succession, from a foliaceous sheath, on a slender flexile rachis; calyx superior, tubular, fleshy, 
obscurely three-toothed ; corolla with a short tube, expanding into a double border ; exterior border in three 
sections, the middle one concave, projecting over the anther; the lateral ones equal, ovate, retuse, pure white; 
interior border or lip two-cleft, with two fleshy protuberances near the base, in the place of the hornlets and 
auriculee in other species; the sections of the lip each divided again into two ovate lobes, a streak of bright 
rose colour proceeding from the base, extends into each lobe of the lip, tinging the rest of the petal with 
a lighter tint; filament erect, simple, nearly the length of the lip, supporting in front a broad two-lobed 
white anther, and terminating with its apex; style the length of the filament, supported at the base by two 
; Y 
subulate germinal processes, and terminated in a compressed, ciliated, concave stigma; germen globular, hairy ; 
capsule three-celled ; seeds numerous. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
This beautiful and delicate plant, although long known, is not of frequent occurrence in this country, 
with the climate of which it does not appear to agree. The present figure was taken from a specimen 
which flowered in the Botanic Garden in Liverpool, in August 1826. 
It will be seen from our synonyms, that several authors have assigned this plant to the genus Hellenia, 
but a very slight observation will shew, that it differs essentially in those particulars on which the character 
f th f Scitaminean Plants is now found to depend, and that the extension of the filament 
ot the genera 0 
