| Green ginger | |
|---|---|
| |
| Flower | |
| Conservation status | |
| Least Concern (NCA) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Zingiberales |
| Family: | Zingiberaceae |
| Genus: | Meistera |
| Species: | M. dallachyi |
| Binomial name | |
| Meistera dallachyi (F.Muell.) Škorničk. & M.F.Newman | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Meistera dallachyi, commonly known as green ginger, is a plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae found only in the Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, Australia. It is a rhizomatous herb, that is, the stem grows horizontally underground and only the leaves appear above ground. The leaf sheaths (the "stems") may be up to 4 m (13 ft) long with a number of long narrow leaves on either side, each up to about 50 cm (20 in) long by 9 cm (3.5 in) wide.
The flowers are produced at ground level on a spearate stalk to the leaves. The flowers have three white or cream petals and a labellum up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long. The fruit is a yellow or green, three-valved, spiky capsule about 45 mm (1.8 in) long by 30 mm (1.2 in) wide, containing a number of brown or black seeds.
Taxonomy
This species was first described in 1873 as Amomum dallachyi by Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, but by 2002 it was known that the genus Amomum was paraphyletic. A review of the genus published in 2018 resulted in this species being transferred to the genus Meistera.
Distribution and habitat
It grows in rainforest, particularly where there are breaks in the canopy such as along roads and creeks. It occurs from Kutini-Payamu National Park in the northern part of Cape York, south to about Mission Beach. The altitudinal range is from sea level to about 400 m (1,300 ft).
Conservation
This species is listed as least concern under the Queensland Government's Nature Conservation Act. As of December 2024, it has not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
References
- ^ "Species profile—Meistera dallachyi". Queensland Department of Environment and Science. Queensland Government. 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- "Meistera dallachyi (F.Muell.) Škorničk. & M.F.Newman". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ "Meistera dallachyi (F.Muell.) Škorničk. & M.F.Newman". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Meistera dallachyi". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William T. (June 2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia: Nokomis Editions. p. 563 (as Amomum dallachyi). ISBN 978-0-9581742-1-3.
- Mueller, Ferdinand von (1873). Fragmenta phytographiæ Australiæ (in Latin). Vol. 8. Melbourne: Joannis Ferres. p. 25. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ de Boer, H.; Newman, M.; Poulsen, A.D.; Droop, A.J.; Fér, T.; Hiên, L.T.T.; Hlavatá, K.; Lamxay, V.; Richardson, J.E.; Steffen, K.; Leong-Škorničková, J. (2018). "Convergent morphology in Alpinieae (Zingiberaceae): Recircumscribing Amomum as a monophyletic genus". Taxon. 67 (1): 6–36. doi:10.12705/671.2.
External links
- View a map of herbarium collections of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
- View observations of this species on iNaturalist
- View images of this species on Flickriver.com
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Meistera dallachyi | |
| Amomum dallachyi | |