ALPINIA NUTANS. 
(Nodding -flowered Alpinia.) 
Class. 
MONANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
SCiTAMINEiE. 
Generic Character.— A nther double. Filaments Leaves lanceolate. Nectary obsolete, tbree-lobed, 
not elongated beyond the anthers. Style the length of folded at the margin. Capsule membranaceous, woolly, 
the filament, received in the furrows of the anther. Synonymes.— Renealmia nutans, Zerumbet specio- 
Stigma obsolete, trigonous. Capsule fleshy. sum, Globba nutans, G. sylvestris. 
Specific Character.— Plant a terrestrial epiphyte. 
We seldom meet with this old and beautiful plant in our stoves, which, though 
possibly not adapted for universal cultivation, is highly deserving a place in every 
collection where it could be provided for in a suitable manner, from the great beauty 
of its flowers. It is a native of the East Indies, from whence it was introduced half 
a century ago by Sir Joseph Banks. 
To be seen truly to advantage, it should be associated with Hedychiums and 
similar genera, and planted out in the stove. Thus treated, and flourishing and 
flowering, as the last-mentioned genus does in the large Conservatory at Chatsworth, 
it would be really splendid. Those who see such plants as they are generally 
grown, have no idea what a fine development of character they exhibit, and what an 
aspect of tropical luxuriance they become invested with when treated in the manner 
spoken of. The extent to which they can be so accommodated is not, to be sure, 
very great, for such erections as the one alluded to are not at present numerous ; 
but the time is approaching when they will neither be few nor far between. 
The present species is taken from the genus Beneahnia, and placed in Atyinia, 
by Mr. Roscoe, in an early volume of the "Linnean Society's Transactions." Our 
descriptions and the synonymes given are from one of the older volumes of the 
"Botanical Magazine," which had been indebted for them to the work before 
mentioned. 
The plant is a perennial, with herbaceous stems, which rise several feet, thickly 
studded with fine foliage, which is laterally disposed. The leaves are lanceolate, 
and sheathe the stem with their base. The flowers are borne in a drooping raceme 
at the summit of the stems, and are produced early in spring. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
