ALPINIA DIFFISSA. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
SECT. II. SCITAMINER. 
Grn. Cuar.—Anther double, embracing the style; filament erect, simple, not extending beyond the anther; inner 
limb of corolla unilabiate. 
Spec. Cuar.—Filament deeply divided in two lobes, each antheriferous; style slender, erect, rising between the 
segments of the filament; lip broad, panduriform, obtuse, yellow, with red streaks diverging from 
the middle. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Stem cylindrical, erect, leaves lanceolate, inzequilateral, with a strong membranous margin ; spike terminal, 
many-flowered, reclinate; flowers in pairs, outer limb of corolla in three segments, ovate, white, with pink margin ; 
inner limb or lip panduriform, bread, intire, finely striated with crimson lines diverging from the middle; filament 
deeply divided in two segments, each segment antheriferous ; style rising between the segments of the filament. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The present figure is given from a Chinese drawing, in the collection of the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, at 
Knowsley. It has not hitherto been either figured or described, except in the notice of it in Linn. Trans. vol. ix. 
p- 281, and has probably never yet been introduced into Europe. The very singular construction of the parts of 
fructification, resembling rather a Diandrian than a Monandrian plant, might induce a doubt of its existence, did not 
the other parts of the inflorescence, and the general habit and appearance of the plant, demonstrate its authenticity, 
and characterize it as an Alpinia, beyond all possibility of suspicion. The peculiarity of this plant consists in the 
filament being deeply divided, or cloven into two segments, (diffissa,) from which its specific name is derived. 
The singularity of such a deviation from the rest of the Scitaminean tribe, is, however, somewhat diminished by 
our having observed a similar circumstance in the Alpinia calcarata ; a flower of which appeared a few years since 
in the Botanical Garden at Liverpool, with a double filament, by which the two-lobed anther was divided, one lobe 
only being found on each portion of the filament; whether this may be the case with the diffissa, or whether 
each of the filaments bears a double anther, the figure now published does not enable us to determine. 
