ALPINIA AURICULATA. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
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SECT. II. SCITAMINER. 
embracing the style; filament simple, erect, not extending beyond the anther ; inner 
border of the corolla unilabiate ; capsule three-celled ; seeds arilled. 
Spec. Cuar.—F lowers terminal 
3 spike pendulous; lip broad-ovate, crenate towards the apex, furnished at the base 
with a pair of involute, flat, auriculated glands, hairy beneath; leaves lanceolate, with a line of 
ferruginous hairs on each side the mid-rib below. 
Gey. CHar.—Anther double, 
DESCRIPTION. 
Roots woody, perennial; stem erect, villous, 10-14 feet high; leaves alternate, subsessile, ineequilateral, 
coriaceous, ciliated with ferruginous hairs on the margin, and on each side the mid-rib below, two feet long, by 
4—6 inches bread; petiole short, with a ligulated stipule, or ocrea ; spike terminal, pendulous ; rachis angular, red, 
with white hairs ; peduncles one-flowered ; proper bracte inflated, bifid, striated, apex rose-coloured ; calyx superior, 
tubular, trifid, segments coloured; outer limb of the corolla in three segments, the lateral ones linear, obtuse, 
converging, white and rose colour, the center one larger, incurved over the filament, and opposite to the lip; inner 
limb or lip broad-ovate, concave, undulated towards the apex, bright yellow, beautifully striated with crimson streaks 
diverging from the middle; at the base of the corolla are two broad, flat, auriculated glands, spotted with crimson 
on the upper side, and covered with white hairs beneath ; filament short, simple, covering the back of the anther, 
but not extending beyond it; anther double, ovate, attached to the filament its whole length, opposite to the lip; 
style filiform, downy towards the apex, with two short, blunt, subulate processes at the base; stigma concave, margin 
ciliated; germen globose, hairy ; capsule striated, three-celled; seeds numerous, globular, arilled. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
In general habit and appearance Alpinia auriculata approaches nearest to Alpinia nutans, but is immediately 
known by the lip, which in the former is scarcely more than half the size of the latter, and is nearly orbicular, 
and not elongated towards the apex; it also varies in its beautiful pennicellated colouring, which leaves a whitish 
crescent-shaped space on each side of the lip; at the base of the lip are the two flat auriculated processes, from 
which it obtains its name, whilst the same part in nuéans exhibits two subulate incurved spurs. In auriculata the 
mid-rib on the under side of the leaf has a line of dense ferruginous hairs on each side, extending the whole length, 
which is not found in A. nutans, although the downy or ciliated margin of the leaf is common to both. These 
distinctions mark the present plant as a separate species, without the possibility of a doubt. 
This beautiful plant, which, before it flowered, was supposed to be the Alpinia nutans, was sent to the Botanic 
Garden, in Liverpool, by Mr. William Anderson, gardener to James Vere, Msg. Kensington Gore, in 1815; but 
did not flower till the beginning of April, 1824, when it also ripened its seed. It is now, for the first time, named 
and figured. Like the nutans, it is probably a native of the Southern Islands of Asia. 
REFERENCES. 
1. Segments of exterior limb of the corolla. 
2. Outer bracte. 
3. Interior limb of corolla, or lip. 
4, Filament, anther, and style. 
. The same seen on the back. 
. Filament and anther, with the auriculated glands slightly magnified. 
Germen and style, with the glandular processes at the base. 
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Calyx. 
Capsule intire. 
. Ditto as it opens. 
. Seed. 
. General flower-sheath. 
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