Alpinia coriandriodora D. Fang

Medicinal and used as a condiment.

Plants with odor of coriander ( Coriandrum sativum Linnaeus). Rhizomes purple-red, short. Pseudostems 0.5--2 m. Leaves 15--25, subsessile; ligule shallowly 2-cleft, 3--8 mm, margin often ciliate; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate, 8--13 × 1.2--5 cm, glabrous, base cuneate, margin shortly hispid, glabrescent, apex long caudate. Spikes 5--10 cm; rachis densely pubescent; involucral bract elliptic-lanceolate, 4.5--12 cm, puberulent, apex caudate; bracts 1.5--5 cm × 4--6 mm, early deciduous; bracteoles elliptic, 5--9 mm, flat, puberulent, deciduous. Proximal flowers in clusters of 3 on rachis, distal ones solitary; pedicel ca. 1 mm, densely pubescent. Calyx 6--9 mm, shallowly split on 1 side, apex 3-toothed. Corolla tube subequaling calyx; lobes oblong, ca. 7 × 4 mm, abaxially densely appressed pubescent. Lateral staminodes linear, ca. 4 mm, minutely glandular hairy. Labellum purple-red striped, subovate, 6--7 mm wide, velvety, apex shallowly 2-cleft. Stamen ca. 1.1 cm; connective appendage triangular or tongue-shaped, ca. 2 mm. Ovary densely pubescent. Capsule red, globose, 0.8--1.4 cm in diam., sparsely velvety, apex with persistent calyx. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Sep--Oct. 2 n = 48*.

* Guangxi.