Flora indica, or, Descriptions of Indian plants : reprinted literatim from Carey's edition of 1832 / by the late William Roxborough.
- William Roxburgh
- Date:
- 1874
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Flora indica, or, Descriptions of Indian plants : reprinted literatim from Carey's edition of 1832 / by the late William Roxborough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
34/844
![Coslits, Alpinia. Page Carey Hid. I. 68 t'u‘ outside. Erodes ; interior, or inferior perianth shorter and broader tlmn the er.terior, but like them stiff, aiul a little hairy. Call/.v superior, white, smooth ; mouth unequally toothed, little more tlmn half the length of the braotes. Coro! exac tly as in the other species, only considerably longer ; the colour a tolerable bright, lively yellow. Stamina with a short filament, and very long curved beak crowning the linear two-lobed anther. NectariaI bodies subulate. Germ ovn], hairy, three-celled, with numerous ovulu in each, attached to the axis. Stigma ciliate. Capsule oval, size of a small olive, tliree-celled, thrce-valved. Seeds numerous, lucid, black, enclosed in a large white ragged aril. Embryo simple, sub-lanceolate, base truncate, embraced by the peri sperm : the upper half l»y the ritelius. COSTUS. Selireb. (jen. No. 4. Corolla with the interior Ixtrder of one, cumpanulate, back-eleft loin*. Filament lan- ceolate, with the double anther attached far below its apex. Capsule three-valved, tliree- celled. Seeds numerous, arilled. Embryo simple, and furnished with both [terisperm and vitellus. 1. C. sped onus. Smith in Trans, of Linn. Soc. 1. 240. Linn. sp.pt. ed. Willd. 1. 11. Leaves sub-sessile, spirally arranged, oblong, cuspidate, villous undernoutli. Tjana-Kua. Rheed. Mai. 11. p. 15, f. 8. Tsiana speciosa. Gmel. 9. llerbft spiralis birsuta. Humph. A mb. 6. p. 143. t. 64. f. 1. Sans. Kemooka. Hind, and Beny. Keoo. lianksia speciosa of Dr. Kiiniy, Sec Betz. Ohs. 4. 75. This is one of the most elegant looking plants of the natural order ScHammea. It is a native of moist shady places, such as the low hanks of water courses, &c. Flowers during the wet season. Ohs. Kdnig's description agrees so well with my plant, that I have scarcely any thing to add : the chief differences are, 1 st. Mine is generally from three to four feet high, ascending spirally, with the leaves spirally disposed up and round the stein. 2nd. In this the spike is at all times erect, and rigid ; from about three to six inches I. long. 69 3rd. There is nothing like a crown to the anthers ; and, 4th. The stigma consists of two, broad, glutinous lips, which pipe wide while the pol- len is shedding ; between them is evidently seen, with the naked eye, the mouth of the perforated style ; on the back of the upper lip are seen the two white glands mentioned by Konig. I impute his not taking notice of the two large lips of the stigma, to his having examined the flowers sometime after they were gathered, when they coalesce. The fresh rwts are almost insipid. The natives make a preserve of them, which they deem wholesome, and nutritious ; the dry root does uot at all resemble the Costus arabicus of the shops. ALPINIA. ScJirel. gen. No. 5. Corolla with the interior lamler unilabiftte. Anther double, naked. Capsule lierried, three-celled. Seeds few, or many, arilled. Embryo simple, and furnished with I Kith peris- perm and vitellus. SECT. I. Inflorescence terminal. T. 60 1. A. Gal any a. Linn. sp. pi. ed. Willd. 1. 12. Itoscor in Trans, of Linn. Soe. 8. 345. Perennial. Leaves sessile, broad-limeeolar. Panicle terminal. Lip oblong, ungutcu- late ; ape.r bifid. Capsule obovate, smooth ; seeds few. Ualangn major. Jiwmph. A mb. 5. t. (ill. Sans. Koolunyogo, Dhmuoola, Teekshuu-moolo, Kooliui-junfl, Swogmulha, MwhubliMm- YHcha. Hind. Kodinjan. Arab. Kholinjan, or Khoolunjan. Dr. Charles Campbell, at Bencoolen, sent the roots of these species from thence to the Botanic garden near Calcutta, where the plants thrive remarkably well, and are in blossom during the latter half of the hot season, April and May. Seeds ripen, though rarely, in Root perennial, tuberous as in ginger, kc. possessing a faint aromatic smell, and strong mngent taste, like a mixture of pepper and ginger, accompanied with some degree ot bitter- less, and now ascertained to be the real Galanya major ot the shops. Stems perennial, or t least more durable than those of herbaceous plants, nearly erect, round, smooth ; general eugth, when in flower, about six or seven feet; and as thick as a slender walking cane. leaves occupy from the middle of the plant upward ; the lower half being inverted in leat- >ss sheaths only ; they are sliort-petioled, hifarious, lanceolar, margins white and somewhat ullous both surfaces smooth ; from twelve to twenty-four inches long, and from four to six road ’ Sheaths smooth, with u short, rounded, ciliate, stipulary process above the insertion f the leaf. Panicle terminal, erect, oblong, crowned with numerous, spreading, simple icbotomons brunches, eueli supporting from two to five, or six, pule greenish white, some-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28120024_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
