Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 632 > Zingiberaceae > Kaempferia

24. Kaempferia pulchra Ridl.wfo-0000452008

J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 32: 107. 1899; Schumann, Pflanzenr. IV, 46 (Heft 20) 4: 79. 1904; Williams, Bull. Herb. Boissier 2(4): 232. 1904; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 4: 245. 1924; Henderson, J. Malayan Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 17: 80. 1939; Holttum, Gard. Bull. Singapore. 13: 122. 1950; Chin, Gard. Bull. Singapore. 36(1): 75. 1983; Sirirugsa, Nordic J. Bot. 9: 259. 1989; Thai Forest Bull. (Botany) 19: 12. 1991.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Perennial herb 5–10 cm tall; rhizome moniliform, ovoid, each unit ca 1.7 by 1.5 cm, flesh yellow; roots fascicled, tuberous, with fibrous roots. Leaves 2–5, horizontal but not appressed on ground; ligule bilobed; blades elliptic, ovate to obovate, to 20 by 10 cm, green, dull brownish red, to almost black, usually variegated with dull green patches, base rounded to cordate, apex acute; petiole green, sometimes with dull red spots. Inflorescence terminal, lanceolate, 5 by 2.5 cm; peduncle 3–15 cm long, glabrous; rachis ca 5 cm long; bracts lanceolate, to 4 by 1 cm, apex acuminate, green, sometimes with purple patch; bracteoles linear, keeled, ca 2 by 0.1 cm, membranous, white, sparsely pilose near apex. Flowers several; floral plane flat; pistil 4.5–5 cm long; ovary oblong, ca 8 by 3 mm, white, densely pilose; style 4.2–4.7 cm long; stigma cup-shaped, laterally compressed, ca 1 by 1 mm, front truncate and glabrous, back rounded and pilose; epigynous glands linear, 5–6 mm long, pale yellow; calyx ca 2.7 cm long, split 7 mm on one side, apex acute, abaxial sparsely pilose, greenish white, sparsely pilose; floral tube 4–5 by 0.2 cm, white, glabrous, dorsal corolla lobe oblong, 1.8–2 by 0.3–0.4 cm, apex acuminate and hooded, reflexed, white, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes lanceolate, ca 1.5–1.7 by 0.1–0.2 cm, apex acute and hooded, white, glabrous; lateral staminodes obovate, ca 2.6 by 1.5 cm, apex acute, purple; labellum obtriangular, ca 2.8 by 2.3 cm, deeply bilobed, divided to ca 2 cm, each lobe obovate, ca 1.1 cm wide, purple; stamen 1.5 cm long: filament sessile; anther ca 3.5 mm long, anther crest spathulate, rarely short triangular, ca 7 by 2.6 mm, lower half rolled by incurved claw of labellum, upper part reflexed. Fruit oblong, ca 2.5 by 1.3 cm, pale purple; seeds obovate, ca 4 mm long, brown; aril white.

Thailand : CENTRAL: Saraburi; EASTERN: Rayong; SOUTH-WESTERN: Phetchaburi; PENINSULAR: Ranong, Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Distribution : Malaysia (Pulau Langkawi, lecto).

Ecology : Evergreen forests. Flowering: May–October.

Vernacular : Pro pa (เปราะป่า), pro thai (เปราะไทย).

Notes: Searle (Telopea 8(3): 375. 1999) placed this species in synonymy under Kaempferia elegans but it differs from K. elegans by having a spathulate anther crest with long claw (vs circular anther crest without long claw) and by lacking the distinctive red stigma of K. elegans.

Kaempferia nigrifolia Boonma & Saensouk is a variation of K. pulchra with very short triangular anther crest and black leaves (Boonma et al. 2021), however we consider it to be the same species.