Stemona
(from stemon, a stamen; in allusion to the foliaceous stamens). SYN. Roxburghia. ORD. Roxburghiaceae. A small genus (four or five species) of interesting, stove climbers, natives of the East Indies, the Malayan Archipelago, and tropical Australia. Flowers rather large, handsome, but foetid, on axillary, one or few-flowered peduncles; perianth segments four, distinct, biseriate, erect, acuminate; stamens nearly hypogynous. Leaves alternate, lanceolate, ovate, or cordate, rather shining, with thick, transverse veinlets; petioles inarticulate. Perhaps the only species in cultivation is that described below. It thrives in light, turfy loam, and may be readily increased by suckers.
S. gloriosoides (Gloriosa-like). fl. green, campanulate, glabrous; perianth segments narrow, acuminate; peduncles solitary, racemosely one to three-flowered. July. l. scattered, very rarely nearly opposite, ovate-lanceolate, loosely cordate, acuminate, slightly mucronate, 4in. to 6in. long. h. 6ft. East Indies, 1803. SYNS. Roxburghia gloriosa (B. M. 1500), R. viridiflora (S. E. B. 57).