Hornstedtia scottiana (F.Muell.) K.Schum.

Species

Angiosperms > Zingiberales > Zingiberaceae > Hornstedtia

Characteristics

A perennial ginger family plant. The stalks reach up to 1.5-4 m high and have a swollen base. The leaves occur one after another in two rows along the main stem. The leaf blade is 60 cm long and 12 cm wide. The edges of the leaves are softly hairy. The leaf sheath on the stem is about 13 cm long. The leaves are shiny and smooth on top and dull underneath. The midrib has a dent inwards on the top surface and the veins go off at 30° angles. The flower is a cone like structure up to 12 cm high at the base of the plant. The flower grows without a stalk and near ground level. The flowers are white and the flower has overlapping bracts. The outside of the lower bracts is red. The seeds are 2 mm across and they are grouped inside casings of the cone. The red bracts hide these casings. The pulp around the seeds is edible.
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Plant to c. 4 m tall. Leaves shortly petiolate; lamina lanceolate, shortly acuminate, rounded at base, to 70 cm long, 7-14 cm wide; margins ciliate; ligule 0.5-1 cm long, truncate. Inflorescence fusiform, to 12 cm long; sterile bracts usually bright red, densely clothed with short white or cream indumentum; fertile bracts 5-8 cm long; bracteoles 3-6 cm long. Flowers usually red. Calyx 5-8 cm long. Corolla tube 8-10 cm long; lobes 1.5-2 cm long. Labellum longer than corolla lobes, ovate, entire. Anther sessile, emarginate. Style usually not elongating fully in mature flower; stigma held at base of thecae.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 3.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It is a tropical plant. A rainforest species. It is common in the lowland rainforest in the tropics. It is very frost tender. In the Cairns Botanical Gardens.
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An understorey plant in lowland rain forests, growing on moist soils; at elevations up to 200 metres.
Grows in rainforest.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

The seeds are edible. The tuberous roots are eaten.
Uses food material medicinal social use
Edible fruits rhizomes roots seeds tubers
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed or by division of the rhizome.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
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Optimum temperature (C°) -
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Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Hornstedtia scottiana world distribution map, present in Australia, Moldova (Republic of), Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu

Identifiers

LSID -
WFO ID wfo-0000443195
COL ID 3MQ34
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Amomum lycostomum Elettaria scottiana Hornstedtia scottiana Amomum scottii