ALPINIA. 



The real genus Globba is totally dilliiia from both ; fee 

 that article. 



10. A. mutica. Pointlefs Narrow-leaved Alpinia. Roxb. 

 n. 5. — Clufter ereft, compound. Leaves (hortly ftalked, 

 linear -lanceolate, polifhed. Lip three-lobed ; without a 

 fpur at the bafe. Capfule pulpy. Seeds numerous, angu- 

 lar, with an evanefcent tunic — Found by Mr. W. Rox- 

 burg, the fon of our ever-lamented Eaft Indian botanift, 

 in the forefts of Prince of Wales's ifland, from whence 

 being brought to the Calcutta garden, it flowered, more or 

 lefs, during the whole year, but chiefly in the hot feafon, 

 Marcli, April, and May. , This is alfo an elegant fpecies, 

 and holds a middle rank between nutans and calcarata. 

 Roxburgh. 



11. A., calcarata. Spurred Narrow-leaved Alpinia. Rofc. 

 Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 8. 347. Roxb. n. 6. Ait. n. 5. 

 (Renealmia calcarata; Andr. Repof. t. 421. Globba 

 erefta ; Redout. Liliac. t. 174.) — Cluft:er ereft, fomewhat 

 compound. Leaves linear -lanceolate, polifhed. Lip ovate- 

 oblong, cloven at the point. Segments of the outer limb 

 linear -oblong. — Native of China, from whence it was intro- 

 duced into the Calcutta garden in 1 799, according to Dr. 

 Roxburgh, who communicated the plant to Mr. Lambert. 

 The numerous ftems are from three to five feet high. Leaves 

 narrow, acute, fmooth. Clujier three or four inches long, 

 downy, rather denfe, the ftalks, though partly compound, 

 fome of them bearing two or thi-ee flowers, being fo fliort 

 that the whole clutter refembles a fpike. Leaves twelve or 

 fifteen inches long and one broad, pointed. BraSeas ellip- 

 tical, concave, hardly equal to the calyx, which is tubular, 

 white, fplit half way down at one fide, and on the other 

 Tery flightly and bluntly notched. Outer limb of the 

 corolla pui-e white, the length of the tube, in three deep, 

 equal, obtufe, flat, rather narrow fegments. Lip nearly 

 twice as long, concave, but not io tumid or inflated as in 

 ^. nutans ; its upper fide crimfon, beautifully ftreaked ; the 

 eEtremity flattifh, flightly cloven, more or lefs notched or 

 curled. The bafe of the lip being furnilhed, as in j4. 

 nutans and fome other fpecies, with two fmall fpurs, or awl- 

 fliaped appendages on the upper fide, which are wanting in 

 the lad, feems to have occafioned the fpecific name, which 

 is rather calculated to miflcad. Dr. Roxburgh had once 

 an intention of changing it to fpicata, which would not h.ave 

 been more correft, and the above being printed by Andrews, 

 it was fuffered to remain. ^. angujlifolia would have been 

 preferable to either. 



12. A. maculata. Spotted-leaved Alpinia. Rofc. Tr. 

 of Linn. Soc. v. 8. 347. — " Leaves ovate, fpotted." — Cul- 

 tivated in the botanic garden at Liverpool. It is thus 

 mentioned by Mr. Rofcoe, but with a mark of doubt, nor 

 have we met with any further information refpefting this 

 fpecies. 



l-^. K. fpicaia. Small Spiked Alpinia. Roxb. n. 8 



" Spike oblong, compaftly imbricated, with narrow- 

 lanceolate acute brafteas." — Native of Sumatra. Brought 

 by Mr. William Roxburgh, from Bencoolen to the Cal- 

 cutta garden, in 1803. At the clofe of the rains of 1808, 

 it bloffomed for the firll lime, and was then only about 

 two feet high, being the fmallcft of the genus ever feen by 

 Dr. Roxburgh. This is all the account he has left us of 

 the prefent fpecies. 



14. A. Renealmia. Surinam Alpinia. (Renealmia 

 exaltata ; Linn. Suppl. 79, excluding the fynonym of 

 Rumphius, and the account of the fl;em and leaves taken 

 from that author. Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 6. •' Neue Bot. 

 Ann. V. 3. 136." Myrifma n. 64 ; Lian. PI. Surinam, in 

 Amoen. Acad. v. 8. 251. n. 3, excluding the fynanym of 



10 



Merian, t. 54.) — Clufl;er lateral, compound. Calyx tubu- 

 lar, irregularly toothed. — Native of Surinam. The hiftory 

 of this plant is fo confufed, that we think it neceifary to 

 lay before the reader all the original materials. The gene- 

 ric defcription, Linn. Suppl. 7, and the fpecific one, p. 79 

 of the fame work, beginning at the word Racemus, appear 

 to have been made, with fufficient accuracy and fidehty, 

 from fpecimens of a clufter of the Jloivers, and a quantity 

 of the fruit, with a leaf, fent in bottles of fpirits to Lin- 

 n^us. The former was taken out and dried by Linnaius 

 himielf, for his herbarium, where it now lies, marked by 

 him Heliconia, he having taken this fpecimen for Merian's 

 t. 54, Heliconia Bihai, which it fomewhat refembles in 

 general afpeft. The Jlo'wers, however, when examinad, 

 prove thefe plants totally different ; but this miftake of Lin- 

 nsus accounts for his erroneous reference to Merian. The 

 fpirits in the bottle of theyn/;V being gone, the latter is alfo 

 dried ; but enough remains to (hew it has been a flefhy, 

 very fibrous, oval, capfule, above an inch long, of three 

 valves, ftrongly umbihcated, and containing numerous, 

 roundifh-obovate feeds, now of a fhining brown. Their 

 flavour is lofl. A Dutch manufcript, fent from Surinam 

 with the eoUeftion to which the above belonged, contains 

 the following information. " No. 64 is a fort of reed, and 

 has upon each ftalk four fuch leaves as are here to be feen ; 

 two uppermoft next to each other, and then the other two 

 a fpan under the uppermoft, and a fpan between thefe two, 

 downwards to the fruit. The fruit is at firft red ; black 

 when ripe. The feed in the fruit taftes exaftly like Carda- 

 mom. The ftalk to which the fruit grows is two feet and 

 a half long, befet with twenty-five to twenty-feven fruits." 

 Such is as literal a tranflation as we could obtain. It feems 

 indubitably to afcertain the fituation of the inflorefcence to 

 be lateral, and in this point agrees with the following 

 account given by Willdenow, we know not on whofe au- 

 thority. " A tree twenty feet high. Leaves five or fix 

 feet long, lanceolate, waved at the margin. The clujier ori- 

 ginates from the trunk, above the root." Neue Bot. ^nn. 

 as above. If this laft defcription really belongs to the Lin- 

 naean Renealmia, our ideas of the plant are very incomplete. 

 The lateral inflorefcence would form a ftrong prefumptive 

 argument againft its being an Alpinia ; but we can aflert, 

 from a careful examination of one of the Jloivers, imm.erfed 

 in hot water, and compared with a living flov/er of y/. nu- 

 tans, that their ftrufture agrees exaflly, without the leall 

 mark of a generic difference, efpecially the effential part of 

 the anther. This indeed appears from Linnaeus's remarks 

 in the Supplementum, without which our hiftory would be 

 incomplete. We fhall leave the reader to compare it with 

 the defcriptions of other fpecies, only obferving before- 

 hand that Linnjeus confiders the flower as reverfed, placing 

 the neSary uppermoft. 



Suppl. p. 7. Renealmia. EfT. Ch. Corolla three-cleft. 

 Neffary oblong. Calyx of one leaf. Anther fefTile, oppo- 

 fite to the neftary. Berry flefhy. 



Nat. Ch. CaL Perianth fuperior, tubular, of one leaf, 

 burfting at the top into two or three irregular teeth. Cor. 

 of one petal. Tube ftraight, cylindrical. Limb three- 

 cleft : two upper (properly under) fegments oblong, 

 rounded, equal : lower fegment fcarcely longer, channelled, 

 oblong. Nectary united with the tube, afcending under the 

 upper fegments, ftraight, the length of the corolla, oblong, 

 with a tooth at the bafe on each fide, and a liollow behind ; 

 dilated, and bluntly three-lobed, at the extremity. Stam. 

 Filament none. Anther folitary, inferted into the mouth 

 of the tube, in the bofom of the lower {upper) fegment of 

 the corolla, oppoJite to the neflary, unconnefted, ftraight, 



lifitar, 



