64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XT. 



bracts ; staminode and lip uniformly bright yellow, sab-equal, both orbicular 

 and deeply two-lobed, lobes rounded obtuse. 



This interesting plant is very distinct from any of the others of its section 

 described in the "Flora of British India." From C. attenuata, C. Amada, 

 C. longa and C. montanait differs in having the tubers at the ends of fibres. From 

 C. albiflora and C, oliganiha it differs in having a coma of barren bracts at the 

 top of the spike. From C, reclinata and C. decipiens, with which, especially 

 the latter, it agrees as to tubers, it differs in foliage, and in colour and size of 

 flowers ; both have flowers shorter than the bracts, those of C. reclinata being 

 reddish-yellow, those of C, decipiens being purple. The nearest to our plant is a 

 Burmese species, C. plicata ; that species, however, has firmer leaves and much 

 smaller paler flowers. The most remarkable feature about the plant is that 

 the flower-spike, the bracts, both fertile and barren, and the flowers themselves 

 are hardly distinguishable from those of C. angustifolia in size, colour or shape. 

 The tubers of C. angustifolia are, however, fusiform (circular when cut across), 

 and not almond-shaped (narrowly elliptic in cross-section), and there is of 

 course a radical difference between the two in time and mode of flowering ; 

 C. angustifolia is a spring-flowering species with the flower-spike distinct from 

 the leafy shoot and developed before the leaves appear ; in C. Ranadei the 

 leaves and flowers appear together, the flower-spike being in the centre of the 

 tuft of leaves, and appearing in autumn, not in spring. The leaves, moreover, 

 differ considerably, those of C. angustifolia having longer, narrower blades and 

 shorter stalks. 



The species is named in honour of Mr. Ranade, whose praiseworthy work 

 as Herbarium Assistant at Poona, first under Dr. T. Cooke and later under 

 Mr. Woodrow, was well known to Indian botanists, and whose untimely death 

 we all deplore. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 



Curcuma Ranadei, Prain. 



1. Plant of Curcuma Ranadei : one-sixth natural size* 



2. Ditto showing two tubers and one leaf: not. size. 



3. Tuber of C. Ranadei, cut across : nat. size. 



4. Portion of flower, laid open, showing stamen and pistil: 



nat. size. 



