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| Kaempferia galanga |
Welcome to a website dedicated to a
spectacular but often poorly understood group of plants
commonly referred to as Peacock Gingers or, to be a
little more accurate, plants in the genus Kaempferia.
There does not appear to be a great deal of information
available on the Internet regarding this group so this
site is an attempt to introduce some of the amazing
variety of species and hybrids that exist. As you proceed
in the site you may notice that the latin name is missing
for many of the species shown and the plant is simply
labelled with a common name. Please be aware that many of
the common names you see aren't an "official"
common name for a particular plant they are a shorthand
that collectors are using to refer to what would
otherwise be nameless plants. If anyone could assist in
the proper identification of any of these unnamed species
it would be greatly appreciated.
This site will also include closely related genera which were once considered Kaempferia or otherwise are very similar in appearance to them. All of the plants that you will see here are in the Ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
The topmost link is a presentation prepared by John Banta that provides a little background on the gentleman whose name this genus is honored with. The second link goes to pages of species that are loosely grouped by appearance and not necessarily on any close botanical association. A photo of the overall plant as well as a closeup of the flower will be provided where possible. The third link is a brief discussion of what we have learned to be the needs and weaknesses of these plants along with some habitat information.
These pages will be an ongoing work with more information and photographs being added periodically. We hope you find it both interesting and helpful.
Jim Frechette
7/07/06
Site Date July 7, 2006
All images shown are by Jim Frechette unless otherwise noted.
This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
Original website template courtesy of Janson Designs