CURCUMA AMADA. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
SECT. I. SCITAMINER. 
Gey. Cuoar.— 5 : : 
-Anther double, embracing the style, bicalcarate at the base; filament petal-like, in three segments, 
the central segment bearing the anther ; 
Spec. Cuar.—Spike central ; 
capsule three-celled ; seeds numerous. 
plant entirely green ; leaves long-petioled, broad-lanceolate-obtuse; exterior limb of 
the corolla pale yellow, or straw. 
Syy.—Amada of the Bengalies. Flor. Ind. 1. 33. 
-colour; lip obscurely three-lobed, yellow ; coma rose-colour. 
Tommon-manga. Rumph. Amb. 5. 169. ap. Asiat. Res. xi. 341. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Radical bulb a conical tuber supporting the stem, which is formed by the sheaths of the leaves; palmate 
tubers at the base, thick, fleshy, fingered, inwardly pale yellow; pendulous tubers suspended by long fibres, 
penetrating deep into the ground, and consisting of a fine, farinaceous substance, like arrow-root, of a pale colour 
and slightly aromatic; leaves radical, sheathing, and forming a plant from five to six feet high, broad-lanceolate- 
ovate, costate, smooth on both sides, from twelve to eighteen inches long, 4-5 broad; sheathing and _ petioles 
very long. Scape rising from the centre of the leaves, consisting of a succession of strong, imbricated, pale- 
green, or straw-coloured fertile bractes, terminating with a coma or tuft of pale purple, or rose-coloured barren 
bractes, or leaves ; fertile bractes, each containing four or five flowers, expanding in succession; calyx superior, 
unequally three-toothed ; exterior limb of the corolla in three sections, white or pale yellow; middle section 
hooded; interior limb pale yellow; lip obscurely lobed, with a deeper yellow line running down the middle; 
filament expanded into three petal-like lobes; central lobe bearing the anther, which is spurred at the base and 
embraces the style, whose compressed cup-like stigma extends a little beyond it; style slender, supported by 
the germinal processes; germen downy, three-celled. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Highly interesting, as being one of the few species of Curcuma which flower from the centre of the leaves, 
the greater number flowering in a detached scape immediately from the root. The term Amada is said by Dr. 
Roxburgh to mean Mango-ginger, the fresh root possessing the peculiar smell of a green-mango. It is a native of 
Bengal, where the root is used medicinally, and eaten by the natives in their curries. Rowb. Asiat. Res. xi. p. 341. 
Sent by Dr. Carey from Serampore to the Botanic Garden in Liverpool, where it flowered, probably for 
the first time in Europe, on the 29th July, 1822. 
REFERENCES. 
. Outer bracte. 
. Inner ditto. 
. Corolla intire. 
. Ditto without the lip. 
. Lip of the corolla. 
. Anther and spurs. 
. Germen, with its two processes, style, and stigma. 
A Dao B oO DO = 
