Leading among Hawaii’s special flowers are those of the Ginger family. They are usually exotic in form, colorful, and often intoxicatingly fragrant. The name, Ginger, covers several groups or genera, which vary considerably in appearance although the botanist can distinguish the similarities which relate them. Gingers are not far removed from the Cannas and Bananas; hence, they are reedlike plants, with fibrous stalks and blade-shaped leaves. Some are short, hardly more than a ground cover, others grow twelve or fifteen feet in height.
The plant from whose root is made the dried ginger of gingerbread also grows in Hawaii. It is called Chinese Ginger or Zingiber officinalis. From its light-skinned rhizome is made the Chinese candied and preserved ginger, and bits of the fresh root, or the young shoot, often add piquancy to Chinese cooking.
SHELL GINGER. PINK PORCELAIN GINGER
Alpinia nutans Roxburgh
Like a strand of closely strung shells, the buds of the Shell Ginger droop gracefully from the ends of the stalks. Each bud is thin and porcelain-like, white, pointed and tipped with bright pink. These shell-like buds open, a few at a time, and the flower pushes out. It has thin, white petals while a larger, ruffled portion is yellow, marked with red vein-like lines. One of the stamens also has a petal-like development. The fruit is a yellow ball.
The plant is made up of luxuriant stalks of long-bladed leaves which grow five to twelve feet high. It is a native of the East Indies. (Plate XIV)
Another ginger of this genus, Alpinia mutica, is conspicuous in Hawaii not so much for its flowers, which are also yellow and white, as for its bright, orange-colored fruit—like round balls. These remain on the plant a long time and make good cut decorations.
YELLOW GINGER
Hedychium flavum Roxburgh
The Yellow Ginger has flowers like slender moths of pale, creamy, yellow. They rise at the end of narrow tubes above a green head composed of scaly bracts. One blossom emerges from behind each scale and the buds of those above it peep out like yellow quills. The flower has three petals, two paired and wing-like, the third large and looking like a second pair of wings, folded together. There are three slender sepals and a long filament of deeper color, holding the pistil and stamen. Yellow Ginger blossoms have a delicate fragrance, delightful when perfectly fresh, a little rank when the least bit wilted. Leis made before the buds open, have the smooth quality of old ivory carvings.
The plant has characteristic canes of long leaves which grow five to eight feet. It prefers cool locations, growing wild along the Nuuanu Pali road. Yellow Ginger is a native of India. (Plate XIV)
CREPE GINGER. COSTUS
Costus speciosus Smith
(Costus spicatus[2])
Ruffled and fringed white flowers of odd form emerge, two or three at a time, from behind the scales of the large, brownish-red bracts of the costus. These form a dark head, often so large as to suggest a pineapple. The white flowers have a curious structure. The three, true petals are white and rather inconspicuous behind a large, crepy, white portion which seems to be the petal but is really a greatly modified stamen, called a staminoidium. This rolls into a bell form, with fringed and fluted edges and a pale yellow throat. A second modified stamen carries the anthers and has a yellow tip, making it appear like the usual center of a flower. The stems of this plant have a tendency to curve spirally. The leaves are not so long and blade-like as in other gingers and are arranged spirally on the stem. The plant is a native of the East Indies. (Plate XIV)
RED GINGER. OSTRICH PLUME GINGER
Alpinia purpurata (Vieillard) Schumann
Long rosy red heads among the green leaves are sufficiently suggestive of ostrich plumes to justify this name for the Red Flowering Ginger. The head is made up of large, thin, petal-like bracts and is the conspicuous portion. The true flowers are small and whitish and appear occasionally from behind the bracts. A curious characteristic of this plant is that adventitious plantlets form in the head. These grow easily when planted.
Red Ginger is a native of Malaya. (Plate XIV)
KAHILI GINGER
Hedychium gardnerianum Roscoe
The local name for this ginger is derived from the kahili, an item that was part of the regalia of early Hawaiian chieftains. A kahili was made from a pole or wand, near the top of which, and at right angles to it, were affixed long wing or tail feathers from certain large birds, forming a cylindrical head. This was carried, like a banner, wherever the chief went, to announce his rank and presence.
The blossoming head of the Ginger called after the kahili shows an obvious resemblance. The small yellow flowers on long, stem-like tubes form a cylinder around the top of the stalk, while the resemblance to feathers is enhanced by long, red, filaments which are very striking against the yellow of the petals. Individual flowers have the general form of the Yellow Ginger, but are much smaller and their color is not creamy, but bright yellow. The flower stalks may be six feet long and rise above the rest of the plant. This species is native to the lower Himalayan region. (Plate XIV)
WHITE GINGER. GINGER LILY
Hedychium coronarium Koenig
Most romantic of all the Gingers, because of its white, etherial delicacy and enchanting fragrance, the White Ginger blossom is larger and fuller than the yellow, but has the same moth-like form. The petals, however, hold a shimmering, almost crystalline moon-whiteness which seems unearthly. The slender filament rises in the center like an insect antenna. The flowers are lifted in snowy clusters above the lush green of their long leaves, each flower head centered by a smooth, waxen, green bulb made up of the scale-like bracts. Behind each bract a flower bud pushes out. Just before they open these buds are strung into leis which are one of the favorites in the Islands.
The plant will grow to eight feet if the soil is moist. It is a native of tropical Asia. (Plate XIV)
TORCH GINGER
Phaeomeria magnifica (Roscoe) Schumann
(Phaeomeria speciosa)
If the White Ginger is the most romantic of this group of plants, the Torch Ginger is the most magnificent and spectacular. The plant is a clump of tall bamboo-like stalks, fifteen feet high, carrying large leaf blades. There are two varieties red and pink, the one with red flowers having bronzy leaves, while the pink has bright green leaves. Under this clump, in spring, seeming almost like an independent plant, pushes up the large flower stalk. It grows from three to six feet tall and carries no leaves, but at the end develops the head which is one of the most showy things in the flower world.
It is a waxen cone made up of innumerable bracts, pink or red, around which is a frill-like involucre of the same colors. The head is most attractive before the small, inconspicuous flowers begin to appear from behind the bracts, making them rather ragged. The general form of the flower head suggests a formalized torch. The flowers lend themselves to arrangements that can be almost monumental.
Torch ginger is a native of the Netherlands East Indies. (Plate XIV)
