Tropical forest botanist focusing on ground herbs incl. #taxonomy & #evolution of #gingers (#Zingiberales) especially #Etlingera (#Zingiberaceae). Photos by me.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Joined September 2016
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#gingerplantoftheweek is #Etlingera hemisphaerica #etlingerahemisphaerica described by Carl Ludwig von Blume in 1827 and native in the #FloraOfJava. This plant is flowering today in the campus of University of Indonesia, Fakultas MIPA.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is the economically important #spice, #kapulaga (#wurfbainia_compacta), also known as Javanese or White Cardamom (vs. Green Cardamom — #elettariacardamomum). This plant is grown at 950 m at G. Merapi. The garden owner uses the seeds as an ingredient in soto.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is Alpinia caerulea. This plant was seen in the Nature Park at Port Moresby. Whereas the origin cannot be ascertained, it is likely native in southern Papua New Guinea though much more common along the east coast of Australia at least as far south as Sydney.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is Hellwigia pulchra reinstated 22 Aug 2025 by Senjaya & al. in PhytoKeys 261: 233–273. DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.261.151948
Now 76 names in Alpinia are combined in Hellwigia, we are a big step closer to having the taxonomy of Alpinia reflecting evolution.
Molecular and morphological data support the 'Carolinensis' clade of 𝐴𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎 as a distinct evolutionary lineage. Researchers reinstate 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑤𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑎 as the generic name for this clade.
🔗 doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.26…
#Zingiberaceae
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is #Etlingera minor flowering today in a glasshouse @rbgedinburgh #Edinburgh: data.rbge.org.uk/living/2004… This species is endemic in the Mentawai Islands, Sumatra, Indonesia, where I it collected it in 2004.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is Alpinia arachniformis that we collected in New Ireland during two expeditions in 2013 and 2013 collaborating with PNG Forest Research Institute and local communities. Published 17 Apr 2025 in Webbia: oaj.fupress.net/index.php/we…
Thank you to Stephen Lyus (@sinogrande), the @LivBotTrust_, and the University of Liverpool John Moores for organising a great spicey ginger seminar and for the warm welcome and positive feedback from the audience in Croxteth Hall!
#gingerplantoftheweek is #Tapeinochilos pubescens (Costaceae) from Papua New Guinea flowering now @TheBotanics in Edinburgh: data.rbge.org.uk/living/2017…. This is probably the first time this species, which only occurs in New Guinea, has been cultivated and produced flowers in Europe.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek flowering today @TheBotanics, Edinburgh, is #Alpiniazerumbet, a typical ‘shell ginger’ representing a branch of ginger evolution in great need of taxonomic revision!
This plant data.rbge.org.uk/living/1975… is of unknown origin; the species is widely cultivated.
Axel Dalberg Poulsen retweeted
Spice Stories: The Botanical and Cultural World of Gingers 🌿🫚
Join us for a day exploring the amazing world of gingers! Featuring contributions from leading horticulturalists, academics, and artists.
Sat 29th March 2025
10:00-16:00 🕙
Croxteth Hall, L12 0HB 📍
Tickets £22.38
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is Hedychium wardii from NE India fruiting now in Edinburgh @TheBotanics data.rbge.org.uk/living/2004…
#gingerplantoftheweek is #etlingera polycarpa endemic in Sulawesi now having many fruits in a glasshouse @TheBotanics, Edinburgh: data.rbge.org.uk/living/2002…
The species was collected at Tomohon by the Sarasins in 1894, described by Schumann in 1899 and illustrated in 1904 (shown).
#gingerplantoftheweek is #Boesenbergia ganaensis just fresh from the press in #phytokeys:
doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.24…
Congratulations to Dr Lam Nyee Fan (UMS) for describing in this paper yet another three new species of this #gingergenus (#Zingiberaceae) endemic in Sabah, Borneo.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is the genus #Srilankanthus endemic in #SriLanka recently described in our TAXON paper (doi.org/10.1002/tax.13242). The type was first described in 1861 as Elettaria nemorale. Only after Lakmini D. K. Marasinghe recollected it in 2013 did we get this insight.
#GingerPlantOfTheWeek is #Cyphostigma pulchellum endemic in #SriLanka recently typified in our TAXON paper (doi.org/10.1002/tax.13242). This unusual ginger has flowers where the appendage of the anther is larger and more showy than the lip. Pollinator? Photo: Sindoopa Seneviratne.
Green cardamom, #Elettaria #cardamomum, #Zingiberaceae, is an economically important #spice plant. Our research (doi.org/10.1002/tax.13242) demonstrates that this has close wild relatives in #India and #SriLanka. These may have an important role for spice production in the future.
A complete description of #GingerPlantOfTheWeek, Etlingera peekelii (#Zingiberaceae), is included in a recent Blumea paper: rbge.cc/3WMlnXU. This only occurs in the Bismarck Archipelago and the seeds are covered by a yellowish waxy aril not previously seen in the family.
Just unfolded, @TitanArumRBGE as gorgeous, mysterious and smelly as ever @TheBotanics, accessible to the public the next two days.
