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§ 4. Compendium of the characters of the genus, which are 

 important to the distinction of the species. 



1. Stemandleaves. 



The similarity of the habit and the resemblance of the leaves of the 

 Curcuma species is so great that it is often very difficult to see the difference 

 betvi^een two not flowering species even in living plants and mostly quite 

 impossible in the herbarium. The following points may be considered.: 



1th Average height of the spurious stem or lenght of the sheaths, and 

 posjtion of the leaves. 



2d Transition of the sheath to the petiole with the ligula. 



3d Length of the petiole. 



4th Shape of the leaf and average proportion between length and breadth. 



5th Pubescence. 



6th Colour of the leaf. 



/. The Paracurcuma-specles are at once distinguishable from the 

 Eucurcuma species by the shortness of stem and the more or less spreading 

 or pendent leaves of Gastrochilus-hablt. The lateral and central flowering 

 species are not distinguished by a constant character. 



In both groups the stem consists of a number of white or reddish 

 scales, which grow in length to the centre, the innermost shaped as leafsheaths 

 without a blade, with a rounded and scariose-edged top, the alternate broad 

 sheaths of the leaves, conduplicate and imbricating at the base, form the 

 much flattened spurious stem. In valid specimens of all Eucurcuma-spedes 

 the leal^Iades are nearly erect; but generally the structure is stronger 

 in the lateral species and upon an average they are taller. 



The outer leaves are sessile in the lateral, shortly petioled in the central 

 species, the petioles of the following and inner leaves are gradually growing 

 longer like the leaves themselves, but those of the lateral species are shorter 

 than those of the central species. 



2. The transition of the petiole to the sheath is very uniform. Everywhere 

 the petiole is canaliculate and is subabruptly dilated at the base to the broad 

 conduplicate sheath. The ligula forms there a narrow membranous strap 

 on the inner side, consisting of two lobes which converge in the 

 middle with a ' blunt angle qr with a downward convex bow, and are 

 confluent on the outer side with the. broad membranous margin of the 

 sheath. In Eucurcuma-species the sheath passes gradually into the petiole. 

 In Javanese Paracurcuma-specles the margin with the ligula is elongated 

 upwards to an ovate lobe or auricle on both sides, which may 

 reach a length of 10 m.m. in C. aurantiaca. (in C. petiolata about 

 3 m.m. In C. domestica the margin of the sheath (including the ligulalobes) 

 is laterally produced but is not upward elongated. In the sessile or 

 short-petioled oldest leaves of all species the lobes are almost in a straight 



