桂姜 gui jiang

Rhizomes tuberous, ca. 1.3 cm in diam. Pseudostems 0.5--1.5 m. Ligule 2--6 mm, puberulent, apex emarginate; petiole 1--4 mm; leaf blade lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 25--35 × 5--9 cm, densely purple-brown glandular spotted, abaxially appressed villous, base rounded-cuneate to cuneate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences arising from rhizomes, obovoid, 4--8 × 2--4 cm, more than 20-flowered; peduncle 2.5--20 cm, slender; bracts red or purple, rarely green, oblong-lanceolate, 4--5 × 1--1.5 cm, abaxially pilose. Calyx 0.9--1.8 cm, hairy. Corolla tube ca. 4.5 cm, glabrous; lobes linear, 3.5--4 cm × ca. 5 mm, pilose. Labellum yellowish, ca. 3 cm; central lobe oblong, ca. 2 cm × 7 mm, apex 2-cleft, rarely entire; lateral lobes suboblong, ca. 10 × 5 mm. Anther ca. 1.4 cm; connective appendage red, ca. 1.8 cm. Ovary ca. 5 mm, densely pilose. Capsule ovoid, 3--4 × 1--1.5 cm, obtusely 3-angled, hairy. Seeds red; aril white. Fl. Sep--Oct. fr. Oct--Nov.

* Forest floors. SE Guangxi (Bobai Xian).

The spelling of the specific epithet follows the protologue; in FRPS it was given as “Zingiber kwangsiense.”