Costaceae family – Native Plants

Scientific name : Hellenia speciosa
English : crêpe ginger
Malayalam : ആനക്കൂവ, കാട്ടുകരിമ്പ്
Family : costaceae
Habit: terrestrial Herb
Habitat : semi evergreen forest
Native : great sunda islands

Description

Rhizome tuberous, 1-2 cm thick, highly branched, yellowish-green inside. Leafy shoots 1.5-2.5 m tall. Leaves spirally arranged on the stem, 8-24 x 3-7 cm, oblong or oblanceolate-oblong, base tapering, apex abruptly acuminate, upper surface glabrous, lower surface sparsely hairy; ligule truncate, densely hairy; petiole 3-5 mm long. Spikes terminal, 4-9 x 2-5 cm, more or less globose. Bracts 1.5-3 x 0.7-1.5 cm, ovate-acute, with a narrow subapical protruberance, reddish. Bracteoles 1-1.5 cm long, oblong, reddish. Calyx 2-2.5 cm long, 3-lobed; lobes 3-5 mm long. Corolla white; lobes to 4 x 0.8 cm, elliptic-oblong, acuminate. Labellum 5-8 cm wide, suborbicular, white with a creamy-yellow median band. Stamen median, on an oblong petaloid process. Ovary 5-8 mm long, globose, 3-lobed, 3-celled; ovules many; stigma crescent-shaped, ciliate. Capsule bright red, 2.5-3 x 2-2.5 cm, dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds 6-8 x 3-4 mm, black with fleshy white aril.