CURCUMA AROMATICA. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
hp a 
SECT. II. SCITAMINE®. 
Grn. Crar.—Anther double, embracing the style, bicalcarate at the base; fi 
the central segment bearing the anther; capsule three-celled; seeds numerous. 
Sprc. Cuar.—Spike lateral : 
plant intirely green; leaves downy, 
outer limb of the corolla white, 
colour. 
lament petal-like, in three segments, 
or sericeous underneath, subsessile, inzequilateral ; 
slightly tinged with rose-colour; inner limb yellow; coma rose- 
Syy.—C. Zedoaria. Roxburgh, in Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 333. Flor. Ind. vol. i. p. 23. 
C. Aromatica. Salisbury, Paradisus Londinensis, vol. ii. 
par. 1, fig. 96. 
C. Aromatica. Curt. Bot. Mag. 1546, 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root as usual in the genus, in three paris, viz. 1. Bulb producing the stem and leaves, 2. The thick, 
fleshy, fingered tubers surrounding the bulb, yellowish within, and containing a strong aromatic or medicinal 
quality. And, 3. The fibres or roots penetrating deeper into the ground, and generally terminating in large ovate 
or pear-shaped tubers, of a paler colour within, very slightly aromatic, and producing a fine farinaceous substance 
resembling arrow-root; stem rising from the central bulb, uniformly green; plant 3—4 feet high ; 
leaves broad- 
lanceolate, intire, intirely green, sericeous or downy on the under side, 1—2 feet long, 4—6 inches broad ; petioles short, 
sheathing the stem ; inflorescence radical, rising before, or at a distance from the leaves, consisting of a tufted spike, 
formed by a series of imbricated concave green bractes, the lower portion fertile, and each containing three or four 
flowers, expanding in succession ; the upper bractes sterile, foliaceous, spreading in a loose coma, of a light rose 
colour; calyx superior, membranous, irregularly three-toothed ; corolla with a double border or limb ; exterior limb in 
three segments of a pale pink colour, the two lateral ones equal, the third or upper one vaulted with a subulate 
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point; interior border in two segments, the upper segment or filament in three divisions, the middle one bearing 
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the anther, the lateral ones inclining towards, and forming, with the upper segment of the exterior limb, a veil or 
covering to it; lower lip larger, ovate, intire, with a yellow tinge along the middle; anther two-lobed, each lobe 
terminating in a short hornlet or spur ; style filiform, supported by two blunt germinal processes ; stigma, a compressed 
cup; germen inferior, hairy, three-celled ; capsule oval, three-celled ; seeds numerous, arilled. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
We are informed, by Dr. Roxburgh, (Flora Indica, vol. i. p. 23,) that this beautiful species is “a native not 
only of B ngal, and common in gardens about Calcutta, but is also a native of China, and various other parts of 
nly of Bengal, 
INA d the Asiatic Islands. Flowering time the hot season. It is not uncommon to find the beautiful large, 
sia an e . 
‘ ab a f a single leaf is to be seen.” 
rosy-tufted spikes, rising from the earth before 2 
