973

            Hedychium coronarium J.Koenig

Synonym	:	Amomum filiforme Hunter ex Ridl.
Family	:	Zingiberaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam- Sugandhi English- Butterfly Ginger Lily
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Throughout the year
Distribution	:	India, Malaysia. Widely grown in tropical countries.
Distribution in Kerala	:	All districts
Habitat	:	Common near streams, ponds at high altitudes.
Uses	:	Cultivated as ornamental. It has medicinal properties.
Key botanical characters: Rhizome 2-3 cm thick, perennial, with annular cicatrices, yellow inside. Leafy shoots erect, 2-3 m high, covered by leaf sheaths. Leaves sessile, bifarious, 30-60 × 6-10 cm, oblong-lanceolate, base equal, tip acuminate, lower surface pubescent, upper glabrous and dark green; ligulate membranous closely to the stem, brown. Inflorescence terminal, solitary erect, dense flowered, more or less elliptic. Bracts at the base of the inflorescence c.5 x 30 cm, rounded with a pointed tip, green, glabrous. Bracteoles membranous, 3 x 1.5 cm, inner narrower. Flowers large, white. Calyx shorter than bracts, glabrous. Corolla tube slender, 7-8 cm long; lobes linear lanceolate, 3 nerved, white. Labellum obcordate, bifid, lobes rounded, narrowed at the base into a claw, white with a central green tinge. Lateral staminode white. Stamen shorter than lip. Seeds many, aril lacerate.