Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 351 > Zingiberaceae > Alpinia

14. Alpinia purpurata (Vieill.) K.Schum.wfo-0000338713

Pflanzenr. IV, 46 (Heft 20): 323. 1904.— Guillainia purpurata Vieill., Bull. Soc. Linn. Normandie 10: 93. 1866.— Languas purpurata (Vieill.) Kaneh. in Fl. Micron.: 412. 1933.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Leafy shoots to 2 m tall, base of leafy shoot red or pinkish. Leaf sheath green, glabrous except for pubescence near ligule; ligule ovate, ca 1 by 1 cm, apex obtuse, green, pubescent; blade oblanceolate, 40–43 by 10–12 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base subcuneate, apex acuminate, margin undulate; petiole ca 5 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence erect (sometimes drooping), 17–36 cm long, elongating with age; rachis reddish or pinkish, glabrous; bracts large, persistent, obovate 1.8–2 by 3–3.5 cm, pink, pinkish or red, lower ones often larger (up to 3 times), glabrous except for pubescence at margins, apex acute, enclosing sessile cincinni of 1–5 flowers; bracteoles tubular, ca 1 by 0.4 cm, reddish or whitish, pubescent, apex trilobed, inconspicuous, apex of each lobe hooded. Flowers white, sessile; ovary ovoid, entirely unilocular or trilocular in proximal part, glabrous; style slender, glabrous; stigma cup-shaped, ca 1 by 1 mm, ciliate; epigynous glands ca 5 by 1 mm, apex unequal, bilobed; calyx tubular, 1.2–2.1 by 0.4–0.5 cm, reddish white, glabrous, apex bilobed, each lobe hooded; floral tube exserted and much longer than calyx, or more or less same length as calyx, 1.6–2.2 cm long, white, glabrous, dorsal corolla lobe 1–1.4 by 0.4–0.5 cm, white, apex hooded, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes smaller, 1–1.2 by 0.3 cm, white, apex acute, glabrous; lateral staminodes absent; labellum flat, obovate, 0.8–1 by 0.7–0.9 cm, with two basal lobes, ca 4 by 3 mm, and trilobed apex, glabrous, white; stamen: filament ca 2 mm long, glabrous; anther ca 5 by 3 mm, anther crest ca 3 by 2 mm, apex trilobed, inconspicuous, glabrous. Fruit not seen. Bulbils sometimes formed in axes of bracts.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei, Maha Sarakham, Khon Kaen; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri; PENINSULAR: Songkhla.

Distribution : Papua New Guinea (type of Alpinia grandis), Solomon Islands (type of A. purpurata var. albobracteata), New Caledonia (type), Vanuatu.

Ecology : Widely cultivated. Flowering: April.

Vernacular : Khing daeng (ขิงแดง), khing chomphu (ขิงชมพู).

Notes: This large-bracteate species is native in the Pacific Islands and is very popular as an ornamental. Red-bracteate cultivars are the most popular. Cultivated plants are generally sterile and relatively small while plants in the wild form fruits and can be as tall as 7 m.