Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 502 > Zingiberaceae > Etlingera

15. Etlingera triorgyalis (Baker) R.M.Sm.wfo-0000415935

Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 43(2): 250. 1986; Khaw, Gard. Bull. Singapore 53: 233. 2001; Maknoi & Sirirugsa, Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 50: 230. 2002.— Amomum triorgyale Baker, Fl. Brit. India 6: 237. 1892.— Hornstedtia triorgyalis (Baker) Ridl., J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 32: 144. 1899; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 4: 269. 1924.— Achasma triorgyale (Baker) Holttum, Gard. Bull. Singapore 13(1): 186. 1950. Plate LVIII: D.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Rhizome moderately to long-creeping, stout, 2.5–5 cm diam., sericeous, scales to 8 cm long, striate, shiny; stilt roots absent. Leafy shoots to 6–7 m long, to 1 m between neighbouring leafy shoots, with up to ca 30 leaves per shoot; base to 7–10 cm diam., brown or brownish green, striate with distinct cross-bars; sheath brown, reticulate, pubescent, cross-bars tufted, margin membranous; ligule to 1.5–3 cm long, green, apex rounded, entire, densely pubescent, margin ciliate; petiole to 3–8 cm long, pubescent; blade obovate, to 78–110 by 17–21 cm, length to width ratio 4.6, ± plicate, green, pubescent beneath, base cuneate, oblique, apex acute to acuminate, margin ciliate. Flowering shoot 16–27 cm long, arising directly from rhizome near base of leafy shoot, receptacle semiglobose, convex, 0.6 cm long, with 25–40 flowers, 6–10 open at a time; peduncle ± subterranean, ascending, 5–17 cm long, pubescent; peduncular bracts to 7 by 5 cm, upper clasping spike, ovate, apex acute, cream, apex green to pink, sericeous in lower ⅓; spike ± raised above the ground, 9–15 cm long (including flowers), flowers extending vertically 2 cm above bracts (apex of labellum distanced 5 cm from apex of supporting bracts); spike only including bracts 8.5–13 by 4–9 cm; sterile bracts: ca 8, lower to 7–9 by 3–3.5 cm (upper longer and narrower), obovate, apex mucronate, cream, green and brown, apex red, base sericeous; fertile bracts 6.8–7.1 by 1 cm, spathulate to narrowly obovate, boat-shaped, keeled, apex rounded, cucullate, membranous, red at least towards apex, pubescent especially in lower ⅔; pedicel 1.5 mm long, below bracteole; bracteoles 6 cm long, white, ± pubescent in lower half, apex bilobed, lobes almost fused with each other, mucronate, mucro to 3 mm long. Flower ca 12 cm long; ovary ca 7.5 by 5 mm, cylindrical to slightly obconical, pubescent; style 7.2 cm long, white, sparsely tomentose in upper 2.5 cm; stigma 4 mm wide, red, rounded, pentagular, tomentose at apex, ostiole elliptic, transverse 3.3 mm, facing downwards; epigynous gland 8.5 mm long, bilaminate, each lobe gradually pointed from base, white; calyx 8 cm long, white tinged red towards apex, reaching ca 9 mm beyond anther and ca 6 mm beyond dorsal corolla lobe, scattered sericeous, especially near base, apex tridentate, teeth close together, rounded, mucronate, 1.5 mm long; floral tube 6.2 cm long, white, sparsely sericeous throughout, tube inside with scattered hairs adaxially in lower staminal tube, below with a 3 mm patch just below point of dorsal lobe insertion outside; lobes pale red, darker in upper half, glabrous, reaching 3 mm beyond stamen, dorsal lobe ca 2.7 by 0.7 cm, narrowly obovate to spathulate, apex rounded, ± cucullate, lateral lobes ca 2.2 by 0.55 cm, narrowly obovate to spathulate, apex rounded; staminal tube ca 1.2 cm long, white, papillose verrucose abaxially extending onto centre of labellum; labellum spathulate to hourglass-shaped, angled, ca 5.3 by 1.6 cm, scarlet, papillose centrally in lower half, especially at base, glabrous, lateral lobes erect, on either side of but not covering stamen, ca 1.6 cm across, margin revolute, central lobe spathulate, rounded to bifid (incision to 3 mm), extending ca 4.1 cm beyond anther, margin white in middle; stamen ca 1.1 cm long; filament ca 1.5 by 3.5 mm, white, pubescent adaxially; anther 10.5 by 3.5–5.5 mm, widest at apex, pale red with dark red rim at apex, emarginate 1 mm, pubescent at base adaxially, angled 145°, white with 2 dark red bands, margin at apex a sharp raised edge, thecae dehiscent in upper ⅔, for 6.5 mm from 3 mm above base to 1 mm below apex, glabrous, with very few hairs at base. Infructescence not seen in Thailand.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Yala, Narathiwat.

Distribution : Indonesia, Malaysia (Perak – types).

Ecology : Evergreen forests near stream, 400 m alt.

Notes: The reticulate lower leaf sheaths and very broad bracts are distinctive. The leaf and other parts have a distinct smell of aniseed when crushed. The colour of the margin of the labellum is sometimes white but in the centre not at the base as in Etlingera metriocheilos and E. subterranea.

The infructescence was described by Khaw (2001) from Peninsular Malaysia to be ca 6 by 10 cm, globular, with 20–35 fruits, each ca 3 by 2.5–3 cm, obovoid with warty ridges, dark red and sericeous.