For the acquisition of this elegant plant, which flowered in 
August 1824, our garden is indebted to the sister establish- 
ment of Edinburgh, and few inmates of the stove are possessed 
of greater recommendations, either with regard to the beauty 
or the durability of their inflorescence than the Roscoea pur- 
purea, for its blossoms are singularly large and shewy ; and 
though they are produced singly, and each continues in perfec- 
tion but for one day, yet there is a considerable number, and a 
long succession of them. 
Exactly similar to the present species, is an individual 
which I received under the name of Roscoea speciosa from 
Liverpool, where it flowered in 1822. The two plants differ 
remarkably from the figure given of the flower of Roscoaa 
purpurea in Exotic Botany, the lower lip of the corolla, 
both in the dried specimen and living plant being twice or 
thrice as large and recurved, and the whole blossom of a much 
deeper and bluer colour. These dissimilarities I conceive to 
be attributable to inaccuracy in the draftsman ; for in a na- 
tive specimen which Sir J. E. Smith has been so kind as to 
give me of his R. purpurea, I find the corolla to be like the 
one here represented. The only point in which it differs is, 
that the sheathing bases of the leaves wherein its flowers are 
contained, are much larger and more swollen, probably ow- 
ing to the greater number of flower-buds produced by an indi- 
genous plant, and also that the upper leaves themselves are 
considerably shorter, and more like bracteas. 
Fig. 1 . Flower, deprived of the segments of the corolla ; a, Style. Fig. 2. 
One of the upper segments of the inner coroUa. Fig. 3. Stamen ; a, 
The canaliculated filament ; h, The two horn-like processes at the base 
of the anther ; c, Anther. Fig. 4. Transverse section of the germen. 
Fig. 5. Stigma. — All more or less magnified. 
