GINGER BLOSSOMS
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.
A native ginger, called Awapuhi by the Hawaiians, and _Zingiber
zerumbet_, by the botanist, grows in the Hawaiian forests. Its leaves
form a ground cover a foot or two high. In spring the flower heads
spring up, bulbous and reddish, composed of scaly bracts out of which
appear the small, inconspicuous, yellowish flowers.
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)