White Garland Lily

The flowers of Hedychium coronarium are very fragrant. Naturalized populations have been reported several times from southern Louisiana, but the specimens I have seen are sterile and cannot be identified with certainty. There is also an old report from near Brunswick, Georgia (J. K. Small 1933, unpublished ms.), but I have seen no specimens from the state.

Cultivated as an ornamental and for medicine and aromatic oil.

Leaf blades oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 28--48 ´ 4--7 cm. Inflorescences erect, 15--19 ´ 12--17 cm; bracts of main axis green; proximal bracts ovate, concave, 4--5.5 ´ 2--4.5 cm, apex obtuse or apiculate; distal bracts lance-oblong or ovate, 4--6 ´ 1--2.5 cm, apex rounded or apiculate. Flowers: perianth and staminodes white.

Pseudostems 1--3 m. Leaves sessile; ligule 2--3 cm, membranous; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 20--40 × 4.5--8 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially finely pubescent or thinly hairy, base acute, apex long acuminate. Spikes ellipsoid, 10--20 × 4--8 cm; bracts imbricate, ovate, 4.5--5 × 2.5--4 cm, 2- or 3-flowered. Flowers white, fragrant. Calyx ca. 4 cm, split on 1 side. Corolla tube ca. 8 cm, slender; lobes lanceolate, ca. 5 cm, central one spatulate, apex mucronate. Lateral staminodes oblong-lanceolate, ca. 5 cm. Labellum white, pale yellow at base, obcordate, 4--6 × 4--6 cm, apex 2-cleft. Filament ca. 3 cm; anther ca. 1.5 cm. Ovary sericeous. Fl. Aug--Dec. 2 n = 34.

Himalaya (Nepal, Sikkim), India, Ceylon, Burma, Malay Islands.

introduced; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; Australia; native, Asia; Australia.

1000-1900 m

Flowering summer--fall (Jun--Oct).

Swamps, shores of lakes and streams; 0--50m.

Forests, also cultivated. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].

Hedychium coronarium var. baimao Z. Y. Zhu.