Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 619 > Zingiberaceae > Kaempferia

7. Kaempferia fissa Gagnep.wfo-0000451710

Bull. Soc. Bot. France 50: 163. 1903; Schumann, Pflanzenr. IV, 46 (Heft 20): 87. 1904; Gagnep., Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 12: 228. 1906; Fl. Indo-Chine 6(1): 48. 1908. Plate LXXI: F.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Perennial herb, densely tufted, 10–20 cm tall; rhizome globose, 5–8 mm diam., bearing several fusiform, fascicled roots. Bladeless sheaths 1–2, light green, apex obtuse; ligule bilobed to truncate, membranous; blades 6–10, linear, to 15 by 0.2–1.3 cm, apex acute, margin slightly curved inward, green, glabrous. Inflorescence terminal; peduncle 1–5 mm long, glabrous, white; bracts several, linear, 6–10 cm long, apex acute, white, glabrous to sparsely pilose; bracteoles oblong-lanceolate, ca 2.6 by 0.5 cm, membranous, glabrous. Flowers up to 8, ca 4 cm diam., ca 7 cm long; floral plane flat; pistil 9–10.5 cm long; ovary oblong, ca 4 by 2 mm, pale yellow, glabrous; style 8.5–10 cm long; stigma conical, 1.5 by 1.3 mm, ostiole truncate and obtuse on back, with long cilia only at front edge; epigynous glands linear, ca 7 mm long, fused at base, pale yellow; calyx ca 4.5 cm long, split 1.2–1.3 cm on one side, apex tridentate, teeth triangular, ca 2 mm long, green, glabrous; floral tube to 10 by ca 0.25 cm, pale green, glabrous, dorsal corolla lobe linear, 3–4.2 by 0.4–0.5 cm, apex hooded, ca 3 mm long, greenish white, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes linear, 3–4.2 by 0.3–0.4 cm, apex hooded, white, margin slightly curved inward, glabrous; lateral staminodes obovate, ca 2.5 by 1.2 cm, apex truncate, white; labellum broadly triangular, ca 3 by 3.2 cm, deeply bilobed by ca 2 cm, lobes circular to narrowly triangular, white with yellow base; stamen 0.8 cm long; filament subsessile, 0.8 by 0.7 mm; anther 4–5 mm long, anther crest rectangular, 3–3.5 by ca 1.2 mm, apex unequally bilobed. Fruit elongate obovoid, ca 2 by 1 cm; seeds obovoid, brown to nearly white, aril white.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Nakhon Phanom; EASTERN: Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket.

Distribution : Laos (type).

Ecology : Deciduous forests. Flowering: May–October; fruiting: June–October.

Vernacular : Ban kham (บานค่ำ), ban kham noi (บานค่ำน้อย).

Uses: Medicinal.

Notes: Kaempferia fissa, K. fallax and K. filifolia have been recognised as species by differences in the shape of the anther crest and leaves. We have found these characters to vary continuously and, noting that the three species occur sympatrically, we accept only one species. It should be noted that, in Lao PDR, K. fallax is placed in synonymy under K. fissa as here while K. filifolia is accepted as a different species (O. Insisiengmay, pers. comm.).