Hedychium coronarium


Hedychium coronarium is a perennial flowering plant in the Zingiberaceae family, native to the Eastern Himalayas region of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, through northernmost Myanmar and Thailand, southern China to Taiwan in the East. It is typically found growing in the forest understory, where the pseudostems arising from rhizomes below ground may reach 1-3m in height. In its native environment flowering occurs between August and December.

Cultivation

It is commonly cultivated in warm temperate and subtropical regions of the world as an ornamental. In China it is cultivated for use in medicine and production of aromatic oil, due to the strong characteristic fragrance of the flowers, said to be reminiscent of jasmine. It is a perennial-green, growing in warmer climates, but may also be grown in mild winter temperate regions of North America and Europe, where it dies back in winter but re-emerges in spring.

National flower

H. coronarium is the national flower of Cuba, where it is known as mariposa due to its shape. Women used to adorn themselves with these fragrant flowers in Spanish colonial times; because of the intricate structure of the inflorescence, women hid and carried secret messages important to the independence cause under it. The plant has become naturalized in the cool rainy mountains in Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Rio Province in the west, the Escambray Mountains in the center of the island, and in the Sierra Maestra in the very east of it.

Invasive species

Beyond its native range H. coronarium may be invasive in shallow water systems, along streams and in waterlogged areas. Once established, it is difficult to control due to vegetative reproduction through the underground spread of rhizomes. It was introduced in Brazil in the era of slavery, said to have been brought to the country by African slaves who used its leaves as mattresses, and is now considered naturalised in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Espirito Santo. This species was first introduced as an ornamental to Hawaii around 1888 by Chinese immigrants, and is now considered a serious invader in mesic to wet areas of Maui and Hawaii island. Additionally, it is invasive in South Africa, where it is a declared weed, and propagation of plant material is considered prohibited. It is also invasive in New Caledonia.