244 
CCLXXIII.—ALLOUYA TUBERS. 
(Calathea Allouya, Lindl.) 
` In March 1891 there were received from Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., 
Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garði, A tubers of a 
itaminee, which were known in Ed island as ** To mboo " and 
substitute for potatoes. Similar tubers were also knowu p Damnit 
according to Dr. H. A. A. Nicholls, F.L.S., under the name of “ Tokkee 
» 
ambo" These local names it was noticed were evidently only a cor- 
F 
rupti opinambour, the Fren or the Jerusalem Artichoke 
Helianthus tuberosus. It w m dard upside to trace the histor 
of the plant from them. Quite recently rt was enabled to forward 
to Kew good specimens of leaves and flowers and no difficulty was then 
experienced in Mestfying the Put wk” a well-known dg Indian 
species of Scitaminee that i yielded food in Carib tim It was 
l 
he pla 
Calathea Allouya, Lindl. Griseb. Flora Brit. West India dinh 
. e root usually consists of a targe ovate bulb, and to 
this several globose or ovate stalked tubers of various sizes are loosely 
attached by strong fibres. The smaller tubers are the parts usually 
y 
E 
“ 
teral and strongly nerved. The scape or flowering stalk issues from the 
sheath of a floral leaf near the base; it is much shorter than the leaves, 
simple, and bears a ce sic spike of flowers. The green imbricated 
bracts have a pale membranaceous margin. The flowers are pure white, 
hr 
One of the earliest accounts of this interesting piant is giveu in 
's Manuscript, vol. v. tab. 35, where it is described as “ Allo cim 
* foliis cannacori radicibus tuberosis.’ 
Aublet in Hist. Pl. Guian. Fr., Vol. 1, p. 3, refers to it as Maranta. 
* quisont bons à manger cuits sous la cendré.” He bes minu 
the locality in French Guiana where the plants were dag: i imas 
—* On trouve cette plante dans une forêt mar 
plan se qu 
* verse en allant de l'habitation de Madame de Gourgas a Pabattis 
* du Roi.” 
Descourtilz figures the plant in Flore Medicale des Antilles, t. M 
He sie it à Cureuma with tuberous roots, and states the latter posses 
c and anti-scorbutic properties. In his account of the plant 
and in the references he makes to Tussac and Labat he has evidently 
confounded it with the arrow-root plant (Maranta arundinacea). 
: Monandrian 
is an excellent figure with description in Roscoe's and. 
Plants, tab. 38, under the name of Phrynium Allouya 
en a punt that had flowered in ens at 
Liverpool. ad been b brought from the island of St. E Vincent by 
= Mr. ©. C. M who found it flowering there in August 1824 at à 
; “ place called Belair.” 
