Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 355 > Zingiberaceae > Alpinia

19. Alpinia vittata W.Bullwfo-0000338842

A retail list of new, beautiful and rare plants 83: 4. 1873; Wu & Larsen in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven (eds), Fl. China 24: 345. 2000.— Guillainia vittata (W.Bull) W.Bull, A retail list of new, beautiful and rare plants 75: 203. 1937.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Leafy shoots to 2 m tall. Leaf sheaths green, glabrous; ligule ovate, ca 5 by 5 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse; blade elliptic, 20–30 by 3.5–4 cm, margin undulate, green with white stripes, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate, apex acute; petiole ca 5 mm long, green, glabrous. Inflorescence semi-erect, paniculate, ca 5 cm long; rachis green, glabrous, bearing many sessile, 2-flowered cincinni; bracts large, open or split to base, obovate, ca 2 by 1 cm, shortly pubescent, green with 3–4 long white stripes, apex obcordate; bracteoles tubular, ca 5 by 3 mm, deeply split to near base on one side, white, glabrous. Flowers white, sessile; ovary ovoid, glabrous; style slender, glabrous; stigma cup-shaped, ca 1 by 1 mm, ciliate; epigynous glands ca 2 by 2 mm; calyx tubular, ca 14 by 3 mm, white, apex trilobed, deeply split, ca 4 mm on one side, each apex lobe hooded, glabrous; floral tube equal to calyx in length, ca 1.4 cm long, glabrous, dorsal corolla lobe oblanceolate, ca 10 by 5 mm, white, apex obtuse, hooded, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes oblanceolate, smaller, ca 7 by 3 mm, white, apex obtuse, hooded, glabrous; lateral staminodes absent; labellum white, ca 13 by 7 mm, apex trilobed, apex of central lobe bilobed, glabrous; stamen: filament ca 2 mm long, glabrous; anther ca 6 by 2 mm, glabrous, anther crest membranous, apex indistinctly trilobed. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : Widely cultivated.

Distribution : Papua New Guinea (New Ireland – type), the Solomon Islands, probably cultivated elsewhere.

Ecology : Cultivated. Flowering: June–August.

Vernacular : Khing bai daeng (ขิงใบแดง), khing dang (ขิงด่าง).

Uses: This species is ornamental but not as popular as Alpinia purpurata.

Notes: Alpinia vittata is nearly identical to A. oceanica but differs in having variegated leaves and a smaller and more compact inflorescence with distant cincinni.