Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 342 > Zingiberaceae > Alpinia

4. Alpinia intermedia Gagnep.wfo-0000338539

Bull. Soc. Bot. France 48: LXXXIII. 1901; Wu & Larsen in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven (eds), Fl. China 24: 343. 2000; Ohba in K.Iwatsuki et al. (eds), Fl. Jap. 4(b): 188. 2016.— Languas intermedia (Gagnep.) Sasaki, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 18: 175. 1928.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Herb to 1.5 m tall. Leaf sheath pubescent near base of petiole and ligule; ligule 5 by 4 mm, apex bilobed, pubescent along margin; blade oblong-lanceolate, 25–33 by 4.5–6 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate, apex acuminate-caudate, ca 2.5 cm long; petiole ca 5 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence paniculate, erect, subtended by up to 3 long sheaths, 4–8 by 0.4–1 cm, glabrous; peduncle ca 3 cm long, green, glabrous; rachis ca 12 cm long, glabrous, bearing many cincinni; bracts oblong, 8 by 2 mm, apex rounded, glabrous; bracteoles oblong, 1–3 by 2 mm, caducous; peduncle of cincinnus glabrous, ca 5 mm long with 2–4 flowers per cincinnus; pedicel ca 3 mm long, glabrous. Flower white; ovary ovoid, glabrous, greenish; style slender; stigma cup-shaped, glabrous; epigynous glands ca 4 mm long; calyx tubular, ca 5 by 3 mm, glabrous, apex indistinctly trilobed; floral tube longer than calyx, ca 1 by 2 mm, glabrous, white, dorsal corolla lobe oblong, 5–6 by ca 2 mm, apex hooded, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes oblong, ca 4 by 1 mm, apex hooded, glabrous; lateral staminodes subulate, ca 2 mm long, bright red, apex recurved; labellum obovate, ca 8 by 7 mm, apex bilobed, recurved or deflexed, white with 2 red stripes from base to apex; stamen: filament slender, ca 7 by 5 mm, curved towards labellum; anther ca 2 by 2 mm, yellowish, becoming reddish at apex, anther crest wanting. Fruit a capsule, bright red when mature, globose, 5–8 mm diam.; seeds 5–8, angled, aril white.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Loei (Phu Kradueng NP).

Distribution : China, Japan (Ryukyus – type), Laos, Vietnam.

Ecology : Along streams in evergreen forests, 1,200 m alt. Flowering: May–July; fruiting: December.

Notes: Alpinia intermedia has distinctive coriaceous leaves and two red stripes from top to base of the labellum. It is rare in Thailand, found only in Loei province.