COSTUS SPICATUS. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Se id bonoiteionn sbiialy osidiw on siti aoe ane dil 
SECT. II. SCITAMINER. 
Gey. Cuar.—Anther double, embracing the style; filament extended beyond the anther, terminating in an ovate 
or lanceolate apex ; capsule three-celled ; seeds numerous. 
Spec. Cyar.—Stem cylindrical, rising’ spirally ; leaves broad-lanceolate, smooth; petioles short, with a coloured 
stipule or ocrea ; spike terminal, closely imbricate ; bractes red at the base; flowers yellow; lip 
obscurely trifid, undulate, or crenate, at the apex; stigma two quadriform lips, ciliated, with a 
separate bifid membranous process at the back. 
Syy.—A lpinia spicata, Jacg. Plan. Am. tab. re 
Costus spicatus. Smith, in Rees’ Cyclop. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Roots tuberous; stem cylindrical, ascending in an oblique or spiral form ; leaves alternate, broad lanceolate, 
smooth, intire ; petioles very short, with a strictly ligulated ocrea, rufescent at the margin ; spike terminal, sitting 
on four leaves, closely imbricated; outer bractes broad, ovate, concave, coriaceous, dark red at the base; inner 
bractes smaller, membranaceous ; calyx tubular, nearly an inch in length, trifid at the apex ; tube of the corolla 
short, outer limb in three sections, broad-ovate, the middle section rather larger; inner limb or lip about three 
inches long, and two in breadth, trilobate at the apex, the lobes crenate, or fringed; faux hairy; filament 
broad, flat, petal-like, extending much beyond the anther, and terminating in an ovate, reflexed apex; anther in 
two large lobes, protected by a membranous hood, and attached by the back to the middle of the flat surface of 
the filament ; style filiform, tubular, without the germinal processes at the base, embraced by, and rising just 
beyond, the anther; stigma two quadriform, compressed lips, finely ciliated, somewhat concave in front, 
accompanied at the back by an erect white membranous process, bifid at the apex; germen ovate, downy, 
three-celled ; seeds numerous. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Of this plant, a very inadequate figure is given by Jacquin, in his early work on the Plants of America, 
under the name of Alpinia spicata. Although it has been for several years in the Botanic Garden at Liverpool, 
it has not yet flowered there. The present figure is therefore given from a drawing made from a native specimen in 
the island of Grenada, in the year 1780, by General Thomas Davies, and now in the collection of the Right 
Hon. Lord Stanley, at Knowsley. To this drawing, the details of the flower are wanting; but it has fortunately 
occurred, that soon after the present figure was prepared for publication, I received, through the kindness of my 
friend Dr. Traill, a fine specimen of a flowering spike of this species, preserved in spirits, sent by Charles Parker, Esq. 
from Martinique, from which I have been enabled minutely to describe this singular plant, which differs in 
] ts from most others of the Scitaminean tribe, and particularly in the style, which is not accompanied 
several respec 
