ON  AFRICAN  TURMERIC. 
59 
or  pale  orange  color  externally,  smooth,  somewhat  plump  and 
fleshy,  variable  in  size,  and  marked  by  a  series  of  transverse 
rings  ;  one  extremity  being  partly  round  or  blunt,  the  other  flat, 
having  a  central  eschar  or  notch,  indicating  its  detachment  from 
another  of  maturer  growth.  They  were  usually  met  with  under 
the  form  of  slightly-curved,  more  or  less  cylindrical  masses,  from 
one  to  five  inches  in  length,  and  about  half  to  one  and  a  half 
inches  in  diameter.  A  number  of  minor  lateral  offshoots  or  tu- 
bercules  proceeded  from  most  of  the  larger  varieties,  which  thus 
often  assumed  a  palmate  conformation.  Occasionally  intermixed 
were  large  round  tuberous  roots,  distinguished  by  similar  annu- 
lar wrinkles,  and  evidently  constituting  the  parent  stock  from 
which  the  preceding  ramifications  had  sprung.  When  broken, 
the  internal  surface  presented  a  deep  golden  or  orange  tint, 
with  a  smooth,  wax-like  fracture.  With  the  exception  of  a 
brighter  hue,  their  physical  characters  so  closely  resembled  those 
of  the  East  Indian  Turmeric,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  define 
their  distinction  in  the  absence  of  other  specific  differences, 
since  the  African  drug  is  equally  endowed  with  the  peculiar 
odor  and  taste  of  the  former,  tinges  the  saliva  yellow,  and  free- 
ly imparts  its  coloring  principles  to  both  spirit  and  water. 
Laboring  under  the  impression  that  these  rhizomes  could  only 
have  been  furnished  by  some  species  of  Curcuma,  I  was  induced 
to  place  several  in  my  garden,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  to 
what  particular  variety  they  pertained.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
months  the  young  shoots  appeared,  flowered,  and  much  to  my 
surprise,  proved  to  belong  to  a  beautiful  Canna,  commonly  des- 
ignated in  colonial  parlance  by  the  name  of  Indian  shot.  Ob- 
serving that  similar  plants  were  cultivated  in  the  adjacent  negro 
enclosures,  I  had  a  quantity  of  their  roots  dug  up,  which  were 
found  to  correspond  in  every  respect  with  those  I  planted. 
Specimens  in  leaf,  flower,  and  fruit,  were  carefully  preserved  and 
transmitted  to  my  friend  Mr.  Bennett  of  the  British  Museum, 
and  by  him  determined  to  be  identical  with  the  Oanna  speciosa 
of  Roscoe.  This  species  does  not  appear  to  have  been  men- 
tioned by  botanical  writers  as  indigenous  to  Western  Africa, 
and  has  probably  been  confounded  with  the  Oanna  Orientalis, 
or  Indica,  which  was  stated  to  be  more  or  less  common  in  Sierra 
Leone  and  other  regions  of  the  coast  to  the  southward.  Roscoe, 
