Kaempferia pulchra - Peacock Ginger

Scientific name: Kaempferia pulchra

Common names: Peacock Ginger, Peacock Plant, Resurrection Lily
Malay name: Cekur Mas
Chinese name:  孔雀姜 (kong que jiang)

Family: Zingiberaceae

Origin: Southeast Asia

Category: Herbaceous perennial
Photo taken at: Secret Garden of 1-Utama

How to grow : Light : Soil : Water : Prune : Propagate : Features :

Hedychium coronarium - Fragrant Ginger, Ganadasuli

Scientific name: Hedychium coronarium

Common name: White Ginger Lily, White Butterfly Ginger, Gandasuli, Garland Flower,
Chinese name: 薑花 (jiang hua - ginger flower)

Family: Zingiberaceae

Origin: Himalaya region

Category: Herbaceous perennial

Photo taken at: Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama

How to grow : 

It is best grown in flower beds. It can grow to about 1m tall. Flowers can be white, yellow or white with a yellow centre. The yellow variety is classified as Hedychium flavum or Hedychium coronarium var. flavum. Parts from this plant is used as an ingredient in making the Air Tepung Tawar used in Malay blessing ceremonies like weddings, etc. Gandasuli is a Sanskrit word meaning fragrance of the princess.

The white butterfly is the national flower of the Republic of Cuba." It became a symbol of Cuban flora because Cuban women used it to smuggle messages to the battlefield during the liberation wars of the 19th century'. (Source: Embassy of Cuba in Kenya website here)

Light : Full to partial sun
Soil : Well drained
Water : Water regularly as it require lots of water
Propagate : Division of clumps

Costus stenopetalus - Striped Costus, Bamboo Ginger

Scientific name: Costus stenopetalus

Common name: Striped Costus, Bamboo Ginger

Family: Costaceae

Origin: Costa Rica

Category: Perennial herb

Photo taken at: Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama

To be updated:

How to grow : Light : Soil : Water : Prune : Propagate : Features :

Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle King'

Scientific name: Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle King'
Synonym: Guillainia purpurata

Family: Zingiberaceae

Origin: Hort.

 Category: Perenial herb

Photo taken at: Putrajaya Floria 2010

Note:

Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle King' is differentiated from Alpinia purpurata 'Red' by the white flowers which appears among red bracts.

Apinia purpurata 'Jungle Queen' - Pink Ginger

Scientific name: Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle Queen'

Synonym: Guillainia purpurata


Common name: Pink Ginger
Chinese name: 紅花月桃 (hong hua yue tao)
Malay name: Alpinia merah

Family: Zingiberaceae

Origin: South West Pacific

 Category: Perenial herb

Photo taken at: Putrajaya Floria 2010

Note: 

There are some hybrids, e.g. Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle Queen' which has white flowers among its pink bracts and Alpinia purpurata 'Jungle King' has white flowers among red bracts.

Alpinia purpurata - Red Ginger

Scientific name: Alpinia purpurata

Synonym: Guillainia purpurata

Common name: Red Ginger, Purple Alpinia, Ostrich Plume
Chinese name: 紅花月桃 (hong hua yue tao)
Malay name: Alpinia Merah

 Family: Zingiberaceae

Origin: South West Pacific

 Category: Perenial herb

Photo taken at: The Secret Garden of 1-Utama

Note:

There is another variety of Alpinia purpurata with pink flowers.
Growing conditions: Full to partial sun, lots of water, well-drained fertile, moist soil.
Make a good cut flower for the vase where it can last between 5-7 days

Alpinia galanga - Galangal

Scientific name: Alpinia galanga
Synonym: Languas galanga

Common names: Greater Galangal, Thai/Siamese Ginger, Spice Ginger

Chinese name- Blue Ginger (南姜) or 高良姜
Malay name - Lengkuas, Galangal

Family: Zingiberaceae

 Origin: Tropical Asia
Native to Southeast Asia and Indonesia)

Category: Rhizomatus perennials
Uses : Medicinal herb and spice.

Photo taken at: The ditch garden in my neighbourhood.

For more information about this plant and how to grow, click here.

My NST article about galangal is titled, "Ginger Greats", click here.

Costus curvibracteatus - Orange Tulip Ginger

Scientific name: Costus curvibracteatus

Common name: Orange Tulip Ginger

Family: Costaceae

Origin: Costa Rica and Panama

Category: Perennial herb

Photo Taken at: My home garden

Costus barbatus - The Red Tower Ginger

Scientific name: Costus barbatus

Common name: Spiral ginger, red tower ginger

Family: Costaceae

Origin: Costa Rica

Category: Tropical perennial herb

Photo Taken at: Floria 2010

“Costus barbatus 'Red' (Costaceae) at Floria 2010 - Wordless Wednesday”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on April 19th, 2011.

Costus barbatus grows in a clump, reaching a height of about 6ft. The inflorescences consist of bright, glossy red bracts that contrast beautifully with the clear yellow true flowers. The yellow tubular flowers are edible with a delightful sour lemony flavour. Grow in full sun or shade, USDA Zone 8-11. In the tropics, it is ever-blooming and the inflorescences can last for months. They attract hummingbirds. Good as cut flowers

This is my entry for Ruby Tuesday, thanks to Work of the Poet, the link is here.

Costus woodsonii

Scientific name: Costus woodsonii

Common name: Red button ginger, French kiss, dwarf cone ginger, scarlet spiral flag, dwarf lipstick plant, Panama candle plant

Chinese name: 红闭鞘姜 (hong bi qiao jiang),

Cantonese nickname: hung wan tong tao (arrival of good fortune)

Family: Costaceae

 Origin: from Nicaragua to Columbia in Central America 

Category: Tropical perennial herb

Photo taken at: My home garden

The bloom which is a bright red cone shaped inflorescence. The real flower is the tiny orange-yellow one jutting out from the tightly wrapped red bracts. The deep green foliage contrasts well with the bright red blooms. 

This is my entry for Blooming Friday. The theme this week is "Contrasts".  To participate or view other entries, visit here here or click on the image below.