Hedychium flavescens (Cream garland-lily)

The cream garland-lily, or yellow ginger, is a perennial herb native to the Himalayas, Sichuan, and North Vietnam. It is naturalized in many other tropical habitats, including Hawaii. In New Zealand, and Le Réunion it is classified as invasive.

Plants: Up to 8′ (2.5 m) tall. Rhizomes are thick, fleshy, shallow-rooted, and heavily branched.

Leaves: Sessile, with slightly hairy sheaths. Leaf blades are elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, 8–20 ⨉ 1½–4″ (20–50 ⨉ 4–10 cm) in size.

Flowers: Flowerheads are spikes 6–8 ⨉ 1–2″ (15–20 ⨉ 3–6 cm) in size. Bracts have a shingled appearance (imbricate), are oblong to ovate, and 1–1¾″ long ⨉ ¾–1½″ wide (3–4.5 ⨉ 2–4 cm). Each bract has 4-5 flowers. Flowers are cream-colored, with yellow centers and prominent anthers. Flowers appear from March to July.

Fruits: Small portions of root stock are surprisingly hardy, surviving crushing, floating on seawater, and years without soil. In some parts of its range, this species produces seed-filled globose capsules ⅜–¾″ (1–2 cm) in diameter with three valves.

Habitats: Forms dense stands in wet areas such as ravine sides, roadsides, native forest margins and disturbed forests. It tolerates shade as well as bright sun.

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Zingiberidae	Gingers and related plants
Order	Zingiberales	Ginger, cardamom, turmeric, galangal, myoga, bananas, arrowroot, and others
Family	Zingiberaceae	Ginger family
Genus	Hedychium	From the Greek hedys, “sweet,” and chion, “snow,” referring to the sweet-scented, white flowers
Species	flavescens	Becoming yellow, yellowish

About plant names...