Hedychium coronarium - Meet the Plants - National Tropical Botanical Garden Plant Database

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P. Goltra

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(herbarium sheet)

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Taxonomy:

Hedychium coronarium (Zingiberaceae)

Common Names:
English Names:
White Ginger

Butterfly Lily
Ginger Lily
Garland Flower
White Garland Lily

Classification:

Hedychium coronarium Koenig
Kingdom: Plantae-Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta-Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta-Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta-Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida-Monocotyledons
Subclass: Zingiberidae
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae-Ginger Family
Genus: Hedychium Koenig-Garland-Lily
Species: Hedychium coronarium Koenig-White Garland-Lily
(National Plant Database. 2004.)

Description:

Erect herb with stems 1 m tall. The leaves are narrowly oblong or lanceolate, acuminate, about 50-60 cm long, 10 cm wide with short petiole.

Pure white, showy flowers emerge from one large bud sometime in late spring through summer at the tip of each unbranched stem. Each flower lasts about one day. Several hundred flowers can appear from each bud during a 6 week period. These herbaceous perennials spread by underground rhizomes, often forming dense clumps of multiple stems.
(Wagner.1990.)

Geographic Distribution:

White Ginger Lily is native to Eastern India.
In Hawai'i this species is frequently cultivated and naturalized in mesic forest.
(Wagner et al.1999.)

Indigenous Practices:

The sweet smelling white flowers are very popular in Hawaii and they are used in leis. Also, the Butterfly Ginger is one of the nicest gingers for the home landscape because its sweet and persistent fragrance that is so enjoyable.

(Kepler, A. K. 1998. Hawaiian Heritage Plants.)

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