C82 THE TROPICAL 
Of tliree other oichids fine plates uccoui- 
pany this vohime, namely, " Bulbophylhint 
elegans " :— 
Moutane zone 3-6,000 ft. ; rather rare. Amba- 
jramuwa ; Hantano, abundant ; Maskeliya. Fl. 
Ifeb.-May; dull ]>urple tinged witli green, lip 
orange with purple dots. Endemic. A singular 
plant, not without beauty. 
*' Ccelogyne odoratissima" : — 
Upper montane zone ; common. Fl. Dec, Jau. ; 
white, with a yellow stain on the lip. Also ou 
the Nilgiri Mts., S. India. 
The name odoralissimo is scai-eeiy warrante<l 
by the very faint scent of the pretty flowers. 
Neither of the llgures quoted, which represent 
the Nilgiri plant, are characteristic lor ouis, 
which has much larger flowers, less acute sep. 
and pet. and very crowded globose pseudobulbs. 
And "Cymbidiiun ensifoliuni" :— 
Montiinc zone in open places loo,'M) ft. ; rather 
t'ommon. Ihuitane : Koiidagulu ; Hogawanta- 
lawa, abundant. Fl. December, A])j-il ; sweet- 
scented, sep. and pel. dull citron yellow, veined 
with pink. Hp pale yellow, stained and spott<'d 
with dark pink. 
In Silckini, Khasia, China, and Japan. 
In J' l. Brit. Jiid., Lindley's C Im maUules is 
referred to C. ruperi/olinm, AVall., and it is 
assumed that its autlior was uiislaken in giving 
Ceylon (Macrae) as its locality. But, notwith- 
standing a few discrepancies in the description, 
I think our connnon plant is really intended. 
I have seen no good vmltlished figure ; it should ; 
perhaps, be kept distdnct from C. rnsifoVnim as 
a species. — Trimcv. 
There are two drawings of this ])lant in Herb. 
Peraden., one (Pj.ate XC. of this work! with 
oblong obtuse pale sep. and pet., with tine pink 
interrupted veins, lip white, .spotted with blood 
red, mid lobe orbicular, and 4 small nearly 
globose poUini, one of each iiair much smaller 
than the other. The other drawing has ovate- 
lanceolate subacute pale straw-coloured sep. and 
pet., with 5 short red veins at the base of each, 
a straw-coloured lip, with red spots, and ovate 
mid lobe ; the potlinia are 4, Uirge, ovoid, and 
all equal. It is marked, in Thwaites's writing, 
' a ha'mcitode.% Lindl. G. P. 3694. '-- J. D. II. 
While 1)1' another " Acanthophippinni bicolor 
we I'ead : — 
Shady woods in moist low country to 2,000 ft. ; 
rare. Hantane ; Gampola, abundant. Fl. March. 
April ; bright yello'n-, the en.is of the sepals ana 
petals deep purplish-red. Endemic. Discovered 
by J. G. Watson. Superintendent of Peradeniva 
Gardens, 1832-38. 
And yet again we have "Eulophia san^ 
guinea : — 
Moist region to 4,000 ft. ; rare. Hantane : Monera- 
gfila, L'va"(Wall) ; Haputale (Wright) ; Mirigama 
(\Vright). Fl. Jan. -April ; sep. and pe). dull 
purpfish-red, as is the whole infl. ; lip paler, 
pinkish-green, with dark purple wings and a 
green spur. E. Himalayas and Kliasia. 'The plant 
is quite leafless at the time of flowering. 
A specimen that flowered at Kew, and is figured 
in the Botanical Magazine, had the sep. ancl pet. 
reddish-hrowu, inelinuig to purple, the lip nearly 
white, sxitt'used Vv-ith pink towards the margin 
and on the side lobes, and with two purple spots 
on the disk.— J. D. H. 
We mnst notice that one genus of orchids 
' ' Josephifi " is thus referred to :— 
Named in hor.our of Dr. (novr Sir) .Tosepli 
Dalton n.juker, Director of Kcw Gardens, 
186.3-fc5, asid author of the ' Fl. Bi-it. India,' and 
maav other standard books ou botany. — Trimm. 
It has two representatives in Ceylon : — 
J. lanceolata, Lower montane zone, 3-5,000 ft. ; 
common. Fl. Aug. -Nov. ; white, tinged 'j\ ith. 
purple, column purple. Also in S. India, 
AGRICULTURIST. [APRIL 1. 1S99. 
Wight (tiling .lertlou) bavb iliat the 11. are 
annually reproduced on the sAtue inflnrescenc*. 
The reseuiblauce of the inliorcscftxt to that of 
a Sicdicc ib striking. 
J. I'ltifolixt, Ramboda (Nock). Fl. Aug. ; appa- 
rently deeper colouix'd than in / lauceoUtfa. 
But we uiiiHt reliiclantly leave the ut-chids 
and conic next to " Scitaniiaea- "—htTbe 
usually perennial tu ^vLieb the plantains, 
cardamoms and ginger belong — uceui»yi!ig 2S 
j»ages in the book, and from which we quot*? :— 
L'letfarut Curda momum. Forests in ihe moiKt 
region up to 3,000 ft. ; rather couuuon. Fl. <f) ; 
lip white, streaked witlj violet. 
There is no specimen or drawing Hermanua's 
Herb. The Ceylon variety is maintained in as 
species by Horaninow (Prod. Scit. 31). 
The type form of E. Cardaiiiomnui is called 
' Itata-ensal ' here, and comes origiuallv from 
Malabar. It is largel> cultivated on estates iu 
parts of the montane zone. Figured in Benth. 
and Trim. Med. PI. t. iSr?. Khewie, Hort. Mai. 
.\i. t. 4. ."). 
' A careful coinparisou of growing specimeub 
satisfies me ihat the plants producing r<'si>ec- 
tivcly the round and the long Cardamoiu-s of 
connneree are not distinct specLcs In e\er>- 
essential i)ariicular the structure is similar iii 
the two plants, the only dillerencc U ing that 
var. a, M hieh produces the round Cardamom, is 
a little taller, with rather narrower and less 
lirni leaves, and that its fr. is more aromatic as 
well as diffeient in form. The seeds of lx)th 
varieties are used by the Sinlialexe t<} chew with 
their bet^l, and as niedicinen.'— rAimff</<'» Enum. 
1. c. 
Also about plantains and bananas : — 
Mxisa pnradijiiaca. By rocky steep streams in 
the moist region, 1—3,000 ft. ; common. Fl. Also 
in E. Himalaya and Malaya. Fruit eaten in 
times of famine. 
Linnaiuss two species, M. jxiradi<iiaca and 
M. sftpicntnm, have no distinguishing l>otanical 
characters ; both refer to cultivated plants. I 
use the former, as being the one to which be 
refers all the Ceylon and Indian svuonymy, 
though J/. Kfijjicnfum .seems generallv"preferred 
by modern botanists. We h;ive but one wild 
species, and it may well be the i>rigin of the 
numerous seedless forms iu euliiviHion. distin- 
guished by diirerences in shape and colour of 
their fruit. Hermann gives the names of 13 
kinds grown in his time, and Moon records no 
less than .50, of which 5 are considered to be 
wild by him. The distinction between 'Plan- 
tains ' and ' Bananas ' is not made in Ceylon, 
and the latter word is not used here. Baker 
(Ann. Bott. vii. 21.5), following Moon, refers the 
wild Ceylon plant to M. troglodytarum, L., but 
I have seen nothing here with an erect m- 
Siorescence. —Trlmen. 
In the W. Indies and elsewhere, the name 
Plantain is used to designate the larger, coarser 
fruits used for cooking, that of Banana for the 
sweet sorts. Mr. Morris informs me that the 
plants of each are always distinguishable by the 
bracts of the male lis., those of the Banana being 
deciduous, those of the Plantain being persistent ; 
as well shown in Ehret, I.e. PI. Sei. tt. lS-20 
and tt. 21-23. See also Kew Bullet. 1894 d 
254. -J. D. H. ^ 
Next are " Ha?modoraces " — perennial herbs 
with a short rootstock and fibrous roots— of 
which only two genera are given, one being 
"Sansevieria Zeyir.nica," the well-known 
fibre-yiel;Iing plant. Then we have "Ama- 
ryllidese "—rootstock bulbous or tuberous— 
with only a few representatives of not much 
interest.— "Taccacepe" has onlr one repi"e- 
