Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 386 > Zingiberaceae > Boesenbergia

8. Boesenbergia longipes (Ridl.) Schltr.wfo-0000341635

Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 12: 316. 1913.— Gastrochilus longipes Ridl., J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 32: 113. 1899.— Kaempferia longipes (Ridl.) K.Schum., Pflanzenr. IV, 46 (Heft 20): 79. 1904. Plate XLV: F.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Evergreen herb to ca 60 cm tall; rhizome cylindrical, 1 cm diam., of multiple elements, far-creeping, externally tan; roots many, length variable, some swollen at apex; stems 5–10 cm long, covered by leaf sheaths forming a pseudostem; leafless sheaths 1–2, to 12 cm long. Leaves 2–4; leaf sheaths to 12 cm long, green or reddish; ligule bilobed, lobes 1.5–2 cm long; blade elliptical to obovate, to 30 by 10 cm, above dark green, sometimes with lighter yellow or silver midrib, glabrous, below green or purplish, midrib slightly hairy, base attenuate, apex acute; petiole ca 18 cm long, green. Inflorescence terminal, clasped between upper leaf sheaths, partially exposed; peduncle ca 2 cm long; spike funnelform, flabellate when flattened, ca 5 cm long, 2.5 cm wide at apex; bracts lanceolate, 3–5 cm long, light green in lower half, upper half brown; bracteoles not known. Flower to 6 cm long; ovary cylindrical; style filiform, ca 5.5 cm long, white; stigma decurved, projecting beyond thecae; epigynous glands not known; calyx ca 1.7 cm long; floral tube ca 4.5 cm long, white, dorsal corolla lobe elliptical, ca 1.5 by 0.7 cm, white, apex cucullate, lateral corolla lobes elliptical, slightly narrower, white, androecial cup absent; labellum obovate, ca 2 cm long, concave in basal two-thirds, nearly flat to apex, white, centre yellow, broadening to apex, red on either side of centre in basal two-thirds, apex narrowed, deflexed, slightly emarginate, margin entire, crisped, central ridge thickened from base to apex; lateral staminodes obovate, ca 1 by 0.7 cm, white, apex deflexed, base with a red spot; stamen ca 8 mm long with some glandular hairs; filament ca 4 mm long, white; anther ca 4 by 2 mm long, white, thecae dehiscent full length, anther crest rounded, retuse, deflexed, yellowish. Fruit not known.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Yala (Betong).

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia (type).

Ecology : Evergreen forests, to ca 400 m alt.

Notes: The specific epithet “longipes” was applied incorrectly in Thailand from the early 1990s to plants which are now identified as Boesenbergia purpureorubra (Mood et al. 2014). Boesenbergia longipes is currently known in Thailand from only one collection, Maknoi T38 -PSU QBG. More collections are needed to provide a more complete description.