Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 733 > Zingiberaceae > Zingiber

49. Zingiber simaoense Y.Y.Qianwfo-0000617847

Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 18: 284. 1998; Wu & Larsen in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven (eds), Fl. China 24: 331. 2000.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Rhizomatous herb 0.7–1.2 m tall, stems solitary. Leaf sheaths green or red, 3–4 bladeless, pilose; ligule bilobed, lobes deltoid, 6–7 by 3–5 mm, apex acute or obtuse, brown pilose; blades 5–10, lanceolate, 34–36 by 5–6.5 cm, glabrous above, white pilose beneath, base cuneate, apex acuminate; petiole light green or red extending to midrib, 4–6 mm long. Inflorescences 2–4, borne from base of pseudostem; peduncle procumbent, 1–7 cm long, normally short, close to pseudostem, sheaths 3–5; spike oblong or capitulate, 3.5–6 by 2–2.5 cm, flowers opening 2–5 at a time, sterile bracts 4–6 by 2.5–3.5 cm; bracts cream with scattered dots in apical half, ovate-lanceolate, ca 3.5 by 1.8 cm, more or less imbricate, apex acute to acuminate, pubescent; bracteoles coloured as bracts, 3.3–3.5 by 1–1.3 cm, folded with 2 ribs. Flower white; ovary 5–6 by ca 3 mm with dense hairs especially in apical half, ovules 12–18 per locule; epigynous glands ca 6 mm long; calyx cream, 1.8–2 cm long, lobes 0.8–1 cm, translucent; floral tube 3.7–4 cm, pink, glabrous to glabrescent, lobes cream-yellow, dorsal corolla lobe 3.1–3.2 by 1–1.1 cm, lateral lobes ca 3 by 0.5 cm; labellum white, pale pink near base, 3.3–3.4 cm long, midlobe orbicular, 2–2.1 by 2–2.4 cm, margin slightly emarginate, side lobes 0.9–1.3 by 0.4–0.6 cm; stamen: filament 2–3 mm long; anther cream, 1.3–1.4 by 0.4–0.5 cm, anther crest yellow on lower surface beyond anther thecae, 1.4–1.5 cm long, apex bifid or trifid, longer than stigma. Fruit unknown.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son (Pang Mapha).

Distribution : China (Yunnan – type).

Ecology : Deciduous dipterocarp forests near limestone hills, 700–900 m alt. Flowering: June–July.

Vernacular : Khing dok khao (ขิงดอกขาว).

Notes: There is no doubt that the Thai collections belong to Zingiber simaoense, although the side lobes of the labellum have an acute apex while, in the original description, Qian (1998) described the apices as rounded.