Dear Dr Sabu You say that there are 4 species of *Zingiber* with identical 'fruits' but do not tell us which ones. Would you kindly do so, along with their known geographic and altitudinal ranges and how to distinguish between them when in flower?
I cannot find 4 candidate species of this genus from the Himalayan foothills but my references, at the very best, are decades out-of-date. I have seen in Nepal, what I took to be *Z.chrysanthum* Roscoe, which looks similar to the specimen Ratnakar collected near Shimla. Note that this species was known to Hooker in his FBI - where a distribution from Kumaon to Sikkim was given. In the Supplement to 'Flowers of the Himalaya', authored (with its publication privately funded alone) by the late Adam Stainton who devoted decades to studying Himalayan flora; he was a man of 'independent' means financially, having inherited money. Whilst mentioning this, all members of efi should be grateful for his efforts but it is time to realise that the widespread belief that *every* Britisher is a millionaire is incorrect - the truth is that many struggle financially. Anyhow, in Stainton's book published in 1997, there is a photo and brief description of *Zingiber chrysanthum* - he gives a distribution of Uttarakund to Sikkim @ 450-1600m. So specimens found near Shimla would represent an extension of its range. *But what of these other, similar species, which I know nothing about? *There is no mention of this *Z.chrysanthum* in Collet's 'Flora Simlensis'. *There seems to be some confusion as to what part of the plant was collected by Ratnakar. Stainton says Z.chrysanthum has flowers in dense globose or oblong heads direct from the tuberous rootstock. Corolla-tube 3.75-5cm long; segments bright red, lanceolate; lip bright yellow, deeply 5-lobed. The capsules are bright red, oblong, splitting open when ripe (as has happened in the specimen photographed above); the seed is as large as a pea, globose, with a white translucent aril. Stainton records it as flowering in August, fruiting in October. In Ratnakar's photo you can see the seeds in the whitish fleshy covering. It is not uncommon for the foliage of plants to partly or fully "rot away" leaving on the fruits/seeds - which can lead to confusion or difficulty with identification. This happens e.g. with some species of Arisaema and this Zingiber.* *Another important lesson to learn from this example is the need to go exploring for plants in the late autumn and early winter months, as we need to understand and familiarise ourselves not just with the flowers of a plant species but its fruits and seeds.* Clearly, all genera in the Zingiberaceae family are in need of further study in India (and elsewhere). May I repeat my request for *more* and better close-up, in focus photos to be taken per plant encountered. This applies to ALL families and genera of plants. Sometimes, a species is distinctive enough to be identified from a single non-close-up image but *often* that is not the case. For further advice see: https://sites.google.com/a/shpa.org.uk/fowh/ Traditionally, plants were identified using dried, pressed specimens in herbaria (the worse the weather, the more difficult it is to collect, dry and pressed specimens for herbaria) - now members of efI have the opportunity of photographing (year round) India's flora in close-up, providing details and information not available in the past. The weather or temperature may not be as favourable later in the year but well worth the effort/discomfort. Presumably, the reason *Zingiber chrysanthum* was missed in forest near Shimla in the past was not that it did not grow there but that few, if any, botanists ventured out there at that time of the year - so my compliments to Ratnakar for exploring at this time of the year. May I encourage him to undertake more field work - though be sure to take more photos. On Monday, November 20, 2017 at 4:52:59 AM UTC, ratnakar tripathy wrote: > > *Dear All,* > > *Kindly help me identify this plant taken intact from a forest near > Shimla. the photo is attached. it is not just a flower but a plant rooted > in the soil. Google image search came up with 'pepper' in italian. 😄* > *ratnakar* > Fellow, > Indian Institute of Advanced Studies [IIAS], Shimla 171005 > ph: 0177 2830348 > > > > (Personal Mobile: +91-9608223908/8988871591) > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
