Boesenbergia siphonantha (King ex Baker) M.Sabu, Prasanthk. & Škorničk.

Boesenbergia siphonantha (King ex Baker) M.Sabu, Prasanthk. & Škorničk., Rheedea 14: 55 (2004).

Boesenbergia siphonantha (King ex Baker) M.Sabu, Prasanthk. & Škorničk.; Photos Nguyen Danh Duc

Vietnamese name: 

Chinese name:

English name:

Latin Name: Boesenbergia siphonantha (King ex Baker) M.Sabu, Prasanthk. & Škorničk.

Synonym Name: Kaempferia siphonantha King ex Baker

Family: Zingiberaceae 

Description: Deciduous, perennial herb 20–60 cm tall, tightly clumping. Rhizome with multiple elements,  development  in  various  directions  forming  a  clonal  mat,  subterranean, globular, 1.2–1.5 cm diam., cream-yellow inside, faintly aromatic, bitter; primary roots few, feshy, conical,  elongate, to 12 cm  long, 1 cm. diam.  at the top, white,  surface smooth, short root hairs full length, the terminus swollen, spherical to obovoid, 1–2.5 cm long, 0.8–2.2 cm diam., white, short root hairs the full length, many fbrous roots from the rhizome to c. 17 cm long. Stems c. 5 cm long, c. 1.1 cm diam., oval in cross section, leafess sheaths 1–2,  deeply corrugate, green or  purple-red. Leaves 4–7  per stem; leaf sheaths 10-21 cm long, fnely ribbed with white blotches, many scattered hairs, dark green, margin brown; ligule bilobed, lobes linear to rounded, 1-6 mm long, light green or translucent turning pale brown, glabrous or with few hairs; petiole 3-12 cm, ribbed,  green, glabrous; lamina  oblong-lanceolate or  ovate 10-26 ×  4-12 cm, base cordate, sometimes oblique, apex acute or acute-acuminate, veins 3–7 mm apart, adaxially dark green, glabrous, abaxially lighter green or purple, glabrous or slightly pubescent.  Inforescence  radical  and terminal,  the radical  inforescence attached  to a rhizome  near the stem  base, the terminal  inforescence between the  leaf sheaths, sometimes shortly exserted, fowering sequence basipetalous; peduncle 1-3 cm long, narrow, slender, branched or  unbranched; spike cylindrical,  4–6 cm long,  c. 0.4 cm diam.,  base  white, apex  dark purple-brown,  ribbed; bracts 2-8,  distichous,  ovate-lanceolate to  linear, 3.5–5 ×  0.5–1 cm,  white, green  or green  with maroon  tinge at the apex, glabrous, overlapping equally on both sides of the rachis; bracteole tubular, 1–2.9 cm long, c. 0.1 cm diam., glabrous or pubescent, white or cream, translucent, apex 2 or 3-toothed, laterally split 1–3.6 mm. Flowers 2-8 per inforescence, one per bract, 7-12 cm long, erect; calyx tubular, c. 6 × 1.5 mm, translucent white or white with tiny maroon dots, apex tri-dentate, c. 3 mm longitudinal  slit; foral tube cylindrical, 6.5–9  cm  long, c.  2  mm  diam.,  white,  glabrous; dorsal corolla lobe  triangular  to lanceolate, cymbiform, 1.2–1.3 × 0.4–0.6 cm, sometimes mucronate, cream, glabrous; lateral corolla lobes linear, c. 1.3 × 0.4 cm, cream, glabrous, veins translucent, margin translucent, all lobes  defexed 180˚ away from  the labellum at  maturity; androecial tube  4-6  mm long,  c. 4 mm  wide, throat  with few  hairs; labellum deeply  saccate, ovate to obovate (in live plants),  2 × 0.5–1.7 cm, cream-white, yellowing with  age, throat  and  medial line  bright red,  maculate,  colour  broadening  outward, changing in  last third  to  dark  pink, maturing  dark  purple or  distal  half  violet with  reddish bands toward the centre, externally covered in short glandular hairs, margin slightly undulate, sometimes crumpled, apex irregular, emarginate; lateral staminodes obovate to oblong, 0.8–3 × 0.4–1 cm, closely appressed with the labellum towards the base, cream-white, dorsally covered with short, glandular hairs or glabrous, apex revolute. Stamen c. 7 mm long; flament 1–4 mm long, white, glabrous; anther elliptical, pale yellow, darker towards the tip, glabrous, thecae 5–6 × 3–3.7  mm (each) at opening, 5–6 × 4–4.7 mm at maturity, rotating away from labellum 90˚, dehiscent full length, white, light brown at senescence, connective white, anther crest absent, pollen white. Ovary trilocular, 3–6 × 2 mm, placentation axile, white, glabrous, shiny; style fliform, to 7.5 cm long, white; stigma white, ostiole ciliate; epigynous glands linear, two, 4–4.5 mm long,  yellowish or  pale cream,  apex acute. Fruit a capsule,  elliptical, c.  1 cm long, trilocular, white  with red  spots  throughout, darker  on the  interior, dehiscence loculicidal, valves  rolling outward  into  coils; seed  ellipsoidal, brown,  hirsute, apex yellowish, funiculus present, yellowish, aril medusa-form, yellow-white, translucent.(Note: This description is based on the protologue and collections from Thailand and Vietnam.)

Distribution: In VietNam, Thailand, found in Nam Cat Tien National Park

Ecological: Andaman  Islands: Moist,  deciduous and  inland evergreen forests  on  humus  rich  soil,  5–45  m  elevation.  

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org

- Mood, J. et al. “Boesenbergia siphonantha (Zingiberaceae), a new record for Thailand and Vietnam with notes on the molecular phylogeny.” The Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore 68 (2016): 125-137.