ALPINIA. 



. Sp. 

 Soc. 



and ftrongly marked with annular fears where former leaves 

 have been ; thefe fend down copious, long, thick, fibrous 

 radicles. Stems either biennial or perennial, numerous, tufted, 

 ilraight, ereft, or more or lefs recurved at the fummit, 

 denfely leafy, eacli terminating in a copious c/iijler, or pamcle, 

 of large gaudy /owf«, "except CarJamonwm," fays Dr. 

 Roxburgh ; but that plant, which has a radical panicle, is 

 now excluded from y^/pinia, and called by Dr, Maton £^/- 

 taria in Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. lO. 249, havmg fufficient 

 marks of generic dillintlion in the Jlamen. We ihall endea- 

 vour to colleft under one view the numerous fpecies of this 

 fine genus, of which we can find any account, or have feen 

 any figures or fpecimens. 



1. A. raanwfa. Simple-clullered Alpmia. Linn 

 PI. 2. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. Rofc. Tr. of Linn. 

 V. 8. 345. Swartz Obf. 5. (Alpina racemofa alba, can- 

 jiacori foliis ; Plum. Ic. 11. t. 20. Zingiber fylv^ftre 

 ininus, fruclu e caulium fummitate exeunte ; Sloane Jam. 

 V. I. 165. t. 105. f. I.) — Clufter fimple, ereft. Outer 

 brafteas lanceolate, longer than the flowers. Calyx bell- 

 ftiaped, with three blunt equal fegraents. Germen fmooth. 



. Native of rather mountainous fliady woodr, in the Weft 



Indies. Notwithftanding Dr. Swartz's doubts, 'we have no 

 fci-uple refpefting Plumier's fynonym. Root branching, 

 flelhy, with the flavour of Ginger ; ufed in Jamaica as a 

 poultice for cancers and other fores, according to Sloane, 

 with good fuccefs. Stem herbaceous, two or three feet high, 

 round, fmooth, flender, fimple, leafy. Leaves alternate, 

 elliptic-lanceolate, entire, fmooth, pointed, a foot long, with 

 narrow flieathing /oflJ/?fl//f .f exceeding them in length. Cliyier 

 terminal, fohtary, ftalked, unbranched, fmooth, many- 

 flowered. Outer braacas lanceolate, blood-red ; the loweft 

 an inch and a half long, the reft about an inch ; inner bell- 

 (haped, containing one or two flowers, fhorter than the calyx, 

 permanent. Ca/y.v red, with broad and fhallow teeth. Corolla 

 white ; tube flender, longer than the calyx ; outer limb witli 

 three nearly equal, ovate, ereft fegments ; inner fomewhat 

 heart-fliaped, three -lobed, the middle lobe notched. Germen 

 bluntly triangular, quite fmooth, as well as the eapfule. Seeds 

 Ihining. 



2. A. Galanga. Galangale Alpinia. Rofc. Tr. of Linn. 

 Soc. v. 8. 345. Roxb. n. I. Willd. n. 2. (Maranta 

 Galanga ; Linn. Sp. PI. 3. Swartz Obf. 8. Amomum 

 Galanga ; Loureir. Cochinch. 5 ? Galanga major ; Rumph. 

 Amboin. v. 5. 143. t. 63. Dale Pharmac. 276. Ger. 

 Em. 33.) — Clufter compound, ereft. Brafteas all lanceolate, 

 fhorter than the flowers. Calyx bell-fhaped, with three rather 

 pointed equal fegments. . Germen flightly dow^ny. — Native 

 of various parts of the Malay Archij)elago, communicated 

 by the late Dr. Roxburgh, from the Calcutta garden, where 

 this plant flowered during the hot feafon, and ripened feed, 

 though very raiely, in November. The root proved to be 

 the real Galanga major qf the fhops. The Jlem is faid to be 

 feTen or eight feet high. Leaves eighteen or twenty-four 

 inches long, foft to the touch, though fcarcely confpicuoufly 

 downy. Clujier large, with very numerous, crowded, fliort, 

 racemofe branches, all downy. BraSeas uniform, lanceolate, 

 downy ; thofe at the bafe of each principal branch very fmall. 

 Flowers white. Calyx befprinkled with minute refinous 

 dots. Corolla elongated ; lip externally downy, cloven at 

 die extremity. " Capjuk fmall, obovate, fmooth, deep 

 orange-red, not opening fpontaneoufly. Seeds only two in 

 each cell, even in the germen, bitter and naufeous, each 

 three-fourths covered with a white tunic." Roxburgh. See 

 Galangal. 



3. A. occidiHtalis. Scaly-cluftered Alpinia. Swartz 

 Ind. Occ. 9. Rofc. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 8. 345. Willd. 



n. 4. Ait. n. 2. (Amomum minus, fcapo veftito, floribiis 

 fpicatis ; Browne Jam. 113, excluding Sloane's fynonym. 

 Paco-fero~a minor multieaiihs ; Plum. MSS. cum icone.) — 

 Clufter compound, ereft, on a fcaly leaflefs ftem. Partial 

 brafteas imbricated, fheathing, dilated, abrupt, hairy. Calyx 

 turbinate, with three broad obtuie fegments. Germen 

 flightly downy. — Native of moift parts of the mountainous 

 woods of Jamaica, flowering all the year, but efpecially in 

 fpring. Root knotty and flefhy. Barren Jlems fix feet high, 

 ereft, herbaceous, fimple, leafy. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, 

 acute, very fmooth, attached by a ftiort contraftion to their 

 flieathing footjlalks, as in the other fpecies. Flo-wenng Jlems 

 as tall as the others, round, fmooth, ereft, not leafy, but 

 clothed from top to bottom with fheathing, oblong, obtufe 

 fcales, and terminating in a denfe, ereft, cyhndrical, com- 

 pound, many-flowered -cluJler, with hairy ftalks. Flowers 

 all turned upv.'ards, crowded, their partial ftalks concealed 

 by concave, fneathing, abrupt, partial braBsas, while each 

 common ftalk, or branch of the clufter, has at its bafe a 

 very different, lanceolate, acute braclea, half its own length. 

 Calyx coloured, hairy at the bafe ; its fegments fmooth, 

 rounded and obtufe. Corolla pale yellow ; tube the length 

 of the calyx ; lip veiny, cloven at the end. " Capfule rather 

 fmall, coriaceous and flefliy, of three valves, red when ripe, 

 pulpy within. Seeds yellow, two or three in each cell." 

 Smartz. We are indebted to Mr. Lambert for a drawing 

 of this plant, copied from Plumier's fltetches at Oxford. 



The habit of this fpecies may, at firft fight, feem to inva- 

 lidate the charafter of a hafyjlem, with terminal injlorefcenct, 

 attributed to this genus in our introduftory remarks. We 

 think however that the difference between this and the others 

 is more apparent than real. The fcales may be confidered 

 as abortive leaves, not perfefted on the flowering Jlems, 

 while thofe Jlems which luxuriate in foliage, do not alfo 

 bear frudifieation. Perhaps the roots are more prolific than 

 in otlier fpecies. 



4. A. Allughas. Ceylon Alpinia. Rofc. Tr. of Linn. 

 Soc. V. 8. 346. Roxb. n. 2. Ait. n. 3. (HelleniaA'highas ; 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. I. 4. Andr. Repof. t. 501. Heritiera 

 Allughas ; Retz. Obf. fafc. 6. i. t. I.) — Clufter panicled, 

 ereft. Calyx bell-ftiaped, two-lobed. Germen hairy. Lip 

 two-lobed — Native of the Eaft Indies. Very common in 

 Bengal, flowering throughout tlie rainy ieafon, and ripening 

 fruit in Oftober and November. We received in 1786 a 

 flower from Koenig's fpecimen of this plant, lent to profeflor 

 David Van Royen by the name of Grana Paradjl Zeylan'ica. 

 It appears without doubt to be the Alughas of Hermann, 

 mentioned, but not afcertained fyftematically, in Linn. 

 Zeyl. 207. n. 449, and it is faid to be the Mala-infchl-kua, 

 Rheede Hort. Mai. v. 1 1. t. 14. The illuftrious fir William 

 Jones has defcribed it, by the Sanfcrit name of Taraca, in the 

 Afiatic Refearches, v. 4. 240. The Jlem is two feet high, 

 fimple, leafy. Leaves lanceolate, pointed, fmooth, with long 

 flieaths. Clufter, or rather ^anir/f, varioufly fubdivided, lax, 

 many -flowered, with denfely downy ftalks. BraSeas fmootli, 

 for the moft part very fmall, but thofe under the principal 

 fubdivifions of the inflorefcence are fometimes elongated and 

 lanceolate, and one or two of the lowermoft occafionally 

 become very large and leafy. Calyx downy, efpecially at 

 the bafe, remarkable for having onlv two marginal acute 

 fegments. Segments of the outer limb of the corolla oblong, 

 equal, coloured green by Mr. Andrews, crimfon, hke the 

 Up, in Retzius's plate, but the latter is probably accidental, 

 the author having had no living fpecimen. The lip is longer 

 than thofe fegments, and, like them, externally hairy ; its 

 two lobes appear to be fometimes cloven. Stamen long, with 

 a large anther, reddilh as well as the ftyle. Fruit globofe, 



purplifti- 



