Hedychium coccineum Buch.-Ham., Zingiberaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: hong jiang hua

English: red ginger-lily, scarlet ginger-lily

French: gingembre-douleur, hédychie écarlate, longose, longose à fleurs rouges

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Up to 3 m tall. Leaves sessile, about 30-50 cm long, lanceolate, acuminate, pubescent on midrib below and at tips, otherwise glabrous; ligule about 1 cm long, rounded, glabrous. Inflorescence up to at least 25 cm long x 15 cm wide, cylindric, moderately dense-flowered. Bracts c. 2.5 cm long, oblong, each subtending 2-4 red or salmon-red flowers. Bracteoles tubular, membranous. Calyx about as long as the bracts, 3-lobed. Corolla-tube same length as bracts and calyx; petals about 2.5 cm long, narrowly linear, reflexed. Lateral staminodes 2.5 cm long, cuneate-oblong, subacute, spreading. Labellum long-unguiculate, limb about 2.5 cm broad, orbicular, deeply bifid. Stamen to 5 cm long; anther-thecae linear. Capsule elliptic, red-orange within" (Dassanayake, 1983; pp. 505-506).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  (no propagation information known by PIER)

Native range:  Asia (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)		Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim (2010) (p. 18)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 47) Cultivated only

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Baret, Stephane/Rouget, Mathieu/Richardson, David M./Lavergne, Christophe/Egoh, Benis/Dupont, Joel/Strasberg, Dominique (2006) (p. 758)

Comments:  Reported as an invasive species in Jamaica.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Hedychium coccineum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Hedychium coccineum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Hedychium coccineum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Baret, Stephane/Rouget, Mathieu/Richardson, David M./Lavergne, Christophe/Egoh, Benis/Dupont, Joel/Strasberg, Dominique. 2006. Current distribution and potential extent of the most invasive alien plant species on La Réunion (Indian Ocean, Mascarene islands). Austral Ecology (2006) 31, 747-758.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Comité français de l'Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature en France. 2010. Les espéces envahissantes en outre-mer (online resource).

Dassanayake, M. D., gen. ed. 1983. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol IV. Amerind Pub. Co., New Delhi. 532 pp.

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim. 2010. Checklist of the plants of Palau. Unpublished checklist. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 44 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).