ALPINIA NUTANS. 
(Nodding -flowered Alpinia.) 
Class. 
MONANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
scitamine^e. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
GtEneric Character. — Anther double. Filaments 
t elongated beyond the anthers. Style the length of 
e filament, received in the furrows of the anther. 
igma obsolete, trigonous. Capsule fleshy. 
Specific Character.— Plant a terrestrial epiphyte. 
Leaves lanceolate. Nectary obsolete, three-lobed, 
folded at the margin. Capsule membranaceous, woolly. 
Synonymes. — Renealmia nutans, Zerumbet specie- 
sum, Globba nutans , G. sylvestris. 
We seldom meet with this old and beautiful plant in our stoves, which, though 
issibly not adapted for universal cultivation, is highly deserving a place in every 
Election where it could be provided for in a suitable manner, from the great beauty 
’ its flowers. It is a native of the East Indies, from whence it was introduced half 
century ago by Sir Joseph Banks. 
To be seen truly to advantage, it should be associated with Hedychiums and 
milar genera, and planted out in the stove. Thus treated, and flourishing and 
owering, as the last-mentioned genus does in the large Conservatory at Chatsworth, 
would be really splendid. Those who see such plants as they are generally 
rown, have no idea what a fine development of character they exhibit, and what an 
spect of tropical luxuriance they become invested with when treated in the manner 
poken of. The extent to which they can be so accommodated is not, to be sure, 
ery great, for such erections as the one alluded to are not at present numerous ; 
ut the time is approaching when they will neither be few nor far between. 
The present species is taken from the genus Renealmia , and placed in Alpinia, 
y Mr. Roscoe, in an early volume of the “Linnean Society’s Transactions.” Our 
escriptions 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 
aentioned. 
The plant is a perennial, with herbaceous stems, which rise several feet, thickly 
tudded with fine foliage, which is laterally disposed. The leaves are lanceolate, 
nd sheathe the stem with their base. The flowers are borne in a drooping raceme 
t the summit of the stems, and are produced early in spring. 
