130 



often form magnificent clumps. They do not usually grow well if 

 exposed to full sun. Like bananas they require a rich soil, and do not 

 succeed in stiff clay or poor soil, becoming dwarfed and shabby looking. 

 They seem to be remarkably free from pests of any kind, even that 

 troublesome banana pest, the butterfly Eriouota thrax, the caterpillars 

 of which roll up and destroy the leaves of bananas and palms, does not 

 attack them. 



The Asiatic Species. 



In the ca.se of most of the Heliconias from the Polynesian 

 and Malay region, the plants having been introduced as cultivated 

 plants, few or no actual localities have been recorded so that at 

 present we are ignorant of their place of origin. Mr. Baker in a 

 paper on these plants in the Annals of Botany states that he has seen 

 specimens from various localities such as New Caledonia, Solomon 

 islands, etc., but the unfortunate error which attributed all these dis- 

 tinct species to cultivated forms of the Brazilian H. Bihai has 

 prevented his localising or identifying the species he had at hand. 



The following is a list of what I presume to be Asiatic species but 

 they can only be properly worked up and systematised in Europe 

 where there are localised specimens, original drawings, and the litera- 

 ture of the species in different museums. 



Asiatic Species. 



Heliconia indica, Lam. Loc. ... ... uncertain 



H. buccinata, Eoxb. ... ... ... Amboina 



Heliconiopsis Amboinensis, Miq. 

 H. austro-caledonica, Vieill.... ... ... New Caledonia 



H. atireo-striata, Bull. ... ••• uncertain 



H. illustris, Bull. • •• ••• ••• uncertain 



H. rubro- striata, Hort. 

 H. triumphans, Lind. ••• ••• ... Sumatra 



H. spectabilis, Lind. • •• • •• ••• South Seas 



H. Micholitzii, Ridl. ... ••• ••• New Ireland 



H. viridis, Nicholson ••• ••• ••• Polynesia 



Possibly also H. striata, Veitch. 



H. BUCCINATA, Roxb. is described as an immense beautiful bush 

 leaves 2 to 4 feet long and one foot broad, petiole 3 to 6 feet long, 

 inflorescence compound of 6 to 10 branches with 6 to 10 smooth 

 bracts, flowers pale, yellow, Amboina. 



This plant was cultivated in the Calcutta Gardens in 1798, 

 and is identified by Roxburgh with a plant described and figured 

 by Rumph Herb. Amboin V. 141, t. 62 fig. 2, under the name 

 of Folium buccinatum asperum. Rumph describes three species in 

 Amboina under the names of latifolium or rubrum, album and asperum 

 he gives as an Amboinese name Rind. Ruin and Riin ; latifolium being 

 Rind Mera ; album Rind Puteh ; and asperum, Rind Laki. Of the red 

 one he says the leaves and leafstalks become red when grown in the 



