Etlingera solaris (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Etlingera solaris (Blume) R.M. Smith

Family: Zingiberaceae

Synonyms

Indonesia (Java).

The fruits are edible and used as a sour condiment.

Robust, perennial herb, up to 5 m tall, with stout rhizome.
Leaves distichous, finely veined; sheath densely floccose-pubescent, with prominent longitudinal stripes, faintly ribbed transversally; ligule densely sericeous, elongate, 3-5 cm long; petiole about 1 cm long, glabrous; blade lanceolate, 50-80 cm × 13-20 cm, base unequal, margin ciliate, apex short acuminate.
Inflorescence head-like, globose, 5-12 cm in diameter, arising laterally from rhizome near base of leafy shoot; peduncle partly subterranean, ascending, up to 36 cm long, with large scales; involucral bracts ovate, largest outer ones up to 9 cm × 3 cm, dirty red or yellow-green, densely sericeous pubescent; flower bracts linear-lanceolate, 5-6 cm long, becoming gradually smaller towards the apex of the rachis; bracteole tubular but deeply cleft, 3-dentate, 4 cm long.
Calyx tubular, 5 cm long, red; corolla lobes slightly protruding from calyx, 3 cm long, scarlet; labellum 2 cm long, red with yellow margins or orange with a red blotch.
Fruit obovoid, 4-5 cm long, crowned by persistent bracts, angular, juicy, red.
Seed 3-4 mm long.

E. solaris grows in mountain forest, at 800-1650 m altitude and is very variable.

Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters‑Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963), 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965), 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968), 761 pp.

Burtt, B.L. & Smith, R.M., 1986. New combinations in Etlingera Giseke (Zingiberaceae). Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 43: 243-254.

Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's‑Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).

Schumann, K., 1912. Zingiberaceae. In: Engler, A. (Editor): Das Pflanzenreich (The plant kingdom). Reihe Scitamineae. Fam. 46. W. Engelmann, Leipzig, Germany. 458 pp.

P.C.M. Jansen