THE SCITAMINEAX OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 157 
fi. multiflora n. sp. 
Rhizome far creeping woody. Stems tall rather stout nearly 
half an inch through. Leaves numerous lanceolate cuspidate 
glabrous shortly petioled, one foot long two inches wide, ligule 
short rounjed, sheath about three incheslong. Flowering stems 
over two feet long slender, branched. Spikes secund very 
numerous and close together, sheathing leaves oblong cuspidate 
ribbed 4 inch long by + inch wide. Flowers five or six in a 
spike, rather small. Bracteoles lanceolate short. Calyx tube 
very slender one inch long, lobes equal oblong lanceolate cuspi- 
date pubescent, points ciliate 2 inch long. Corolla tube as long 
as calyx lobes, lobes obovate spathulate 3 inch long more than + 
inch wide white. Lip entire obovate pubescent white with a 
central yellow bar and red markings an inch long. Stamen 
filament broad, crest rounded rather small. 
Sumatra on the Kelantan river near Siak (8972). 
A very distinct species in its slender flower stems crowded 
with spikes each containing five or six small but pretty flowers 
only one or two of these however are out at once. I found it 
srowing in a dense jungle swamp, the stems creeping through 
almost liquid mud, decayin» leaves and water. 
GEOSTACHYS. 
Rhizome stout woody, not subterranean, with stout roots. 
Leafy stems two or three feet tall with lanceolate cuspidate 
leaves, glabrous, petioled. Scapes lateral usually short decurved 
soas to lie onthe ground (in one species erect). Flowers 
secund, two or three in a dry brown papery bract on a short 
peduncle, projecting but little from the involute bract. Calyx 
tubular spathaceous with an entire cuspidate limb, corolla 
tube shorter than the calyx, thick, lobes oblong as lone as the 
tube, lip entire obovate as long as the corolla. Stamen with a 
short filament and linear anther with a small rounded crest or 
none, staminodes none. 
This genus is closely allied to Alpinia with which it was 
doubtfully placed by Baker under the section Geostachys which 
I have reserved for its generic name. It differs in the flowers 
being borne not on the ends of the leafy stems, but in lateral 
leafless ones, also in the peculiar dry brown bracts which are 
