972
Hedychium coccineum (Buch.-Ham.) ex Smith
Synonym |
: |
Gandasulium angustifolium (Roxb.)
Kuntze |
Family |
: |
Zingiberaceae |
Local name |
: |
English-Red Butterfly Ginger |
Flowering and fruiting period |
: |
July-October |
Distribution |
: |
India,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka |
Distribution in Kerala |
: |
Kozhikkode |
Habitat |
: |
Cultivated
as garden plant |
Endemic/Exotic |
: |
Exotic |
Uses |
: |
Grown as garden plant |
Key botanical characters: Perennial rhizomatous herb, root stock
horizontal, pale brown inside. Leafy shoot cylindric, clothed by purple
sheaths, 1.5-2 m tall. Leaves sessile, lamina oblong-lanceolate, deep green
above and purple beneath, glabrous; ligule 2 cm, membranous base deep purple,
densely hairy, apex pink, puberulous. Inflorescence a terminal spike. Bracts
lax, 30-56 in number. Outer bract coriaceous, tubular, pubescent externally, green
towards the base, apex brownish green; inner bract oblong outer surface
hairy, green. Flowers 5-6 in each bract, 4-5 cm long, showy, dull orange-red.
Calyx tubular, apex light green. Corolla tube equal to calyx, glabrous.
Labellum 1 ×
1.5 cm, apex bilobed, each lobe orbicular, glabrous. Lateral staminoides
petalloid, orange-red. |