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]

English: red ginger-lily, scarlet ginger-lily

French: gingembre-douleur, 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 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. (2009)

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:

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 Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.