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Accession Data:

Larsenianthus careyanus (Benth.) W.J.Kress & Mood

  • Common Name: Praying Mantis Ginger
  • Family: Zingiberaceae Lindley

  • Country of Origin: E. Himalaya to Myanmar

  • Description: Evergreen herb, medium-sized to 215 cm tall; rhizome to 2.5 cm in diameter, fibrous, fragrant, inner color with an outer white layer and inner dull white layer, roots 5 mm in diameter, yellow; tubers absent. Leafy shoots 10–30, densely clumped, stems 3–4 cm in diameter at base. Leaves 7–9 per stem, increasing in size upward, to 40 cm in total length; basal leaf sheaths 3, glossy, dark green with sparse hairs, turning brown; petiole 0–2 mm in length; ligule 7–8 cm in length cm × 4 cm in width, semi-transparent, green turning brown, densely pubescent with short hairs, apex rounded to truncate; lamina 36–60 cm in length × 18–19 cm in width, ovate to elliptic, surface broadly corrugate with prominent veins, dark green, glossy, glabrous, abaxial side dull green, glabrous, midrib with few hairs, margin hyaline, ciliate, base acute, apex acuminate. Inflorescence terminal on leafy shoot, erect to 35 cm in height, apical part of peduncle 11–12 cm in length × 1.2–1.8 cm in width clasped by the top two leaf sheaths, light yellow-green, glabrous; spike cylindric, 22–25 cm in length × 6–7 cm in diameter; inflorescence bracts up to 60 per inflorescence, 3–4 lower bracts sterile, individual bracts ovate, 3.5 cm in length × 3 cm in width, green with a broad white edge, glabrous, striate, inside smooth with copious, sticky mucilage, apex mucronate reflexed 90°, margin hyaline; 1–3 adventitious plantlets produced in sterile bracts at base of old inflorescence; cincinnus 1 per bract; flowers mature from base to apex of inflorescence. Bracteoles lanceolate, cymbiform, not tubular, keeled with uneven sides, 25–28 mm in length × 5–15 mm in width, striate, yellow-tan, apex truncate to slightly acute. Flowers conspicuous, 4–6 per bract; calyx tubular, 10–18 mm in length, trilobed, white, transparent, glabrous; floral tube 45–52 in length × 1–2 mm in diameter, white, glabrous, deflexing 45° toward rachis in last 10 mm, lobes 3, linear-lanceolate, 15 mm in length × 10 mm in width, greenish-white with pink apex, dorsal lobe recurved 180° against corolla tube, ventral lobes deflexed downward, twisted, almost parallel with labellum; lateral staminodes 2 mm in length × 2 mm in width, suborbicular, white, irridescent, reflexed, apex truncate, pink, glabrous; labellum 24 mm in length mm × 6 mm at the widest, elongate, oblanceolate, white to light purple-pink, iridescent with reflective cells giving a sparkle effect, apex truncate, bidentate at center; fertile stamen with filament 2.3 cm long, forming a 180° arc, ending c. 1 cm above labellum, white; anther 5 mm in length × 3 mm in width, oblong, pollen white; epigynous glands two, cuneate, 5 mm in length × 1 mm in diameter, yellowish; stigma, c. 1 mm long, apical opening with hairs, white, extending 2 mm beyond thecae; ovary trilocular. Fruits 2.0 cm in length × 1.0 cm in diameter, capsular, dehiscing into three separate coiled sections; seeds 8–10, 5 mm in length × 3 mm in width, shiny green, enclosed in a thin, tripartite, cocoon-like fused aril. 4

Accession Data:

  • Accession # 201900215
  • Source: Kress Collection, SI#2002146
  • Provenance:
    Collector# 
    Collins, Mark
    Bangladesh: 
    no additional data
    
  • Accession Date: 07-10-2019
  • Bench: 3314 - NEOB: Blue Tanks South
    • Currently: active - healthy
    • Qty: 1 confirmed on 03-12-2025

Classification:

  • Division: Magnoliophyta
  • Class: Liliopsida
  • SubClass: commelinids
  • Order: Zingiberales
  • SubOrder:
  • Family: Zingiberaceae
  • SubFamily: Zingiberoideae
  • Tribe: Zingibereae
  • SubTribe:

Flowering Data:

This accession has been observed in bloom on:
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021

References (internal):

  • Plants from the Kress Collection (NMNH/Smithsonian)
  • EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Assam / Bangladesh / East Himalaya / Myanmar

References (external):

  1. The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1.Last accessed on Tuesday, 07 May, 2019.
  2. WCSP (2019). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last accessed on Tuesday, 07 May, 2019.
  3. Image #00 (cropped) & #01 (original) used with the permission of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20560-0193. Last accessed on Tuesday, 16 July, 2019.
  4. Kress W, Mood J, Sabu M, Prince L, Dey S, Sanoj E (2010) , Larsenianthus, a new Asian genus of Gingers (Zingiberaceae) with four species. PhytoKeys 1: 15-32. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.1.658. Last accessed on Wednesday, 20 November, 2019.

data regenerated on Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:18:41 -0400 [bcm v4.0]

Images:

Larsenianthus careyanus

Additional images for this accession:

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Current Accessions in the Zingiberaceae

Subfamily Alpinioideae
Tribe Alpinieae

  • Aframomum angustifolium W/C
  • Aframomum melegueta W/C
  • Aframomum mala
  • Alpinia boninsimensis
  • Alpinia elegans
  • Alpinia galanga W/C
  • Alpinia latilabris
  • Alpinia maclurei
  • Alpinia malaccensis W/C
  • Alpinia nigra W/C
  • Alpinia kwangsiensis
  • Alpinia roxburghii W/C
  • Alpinia zerumbet
  • Elettaria cardamomum
  • Elettariopsis aff. curtisii W/C
  • Elettariopsis smithiae W/C
  • Elettariopsis sp.
  • Etlingera sp. W/C
  • Wurfbainia testacea

Subfamily Alpinioideae
Tribe Riedelieae

  • Burbidgea schizocheila
  • Pleuranthodium schlechteri
  • Pleuranthodium schlechteri aff. W/C
  • Riedelia sp.
  • Siamanthus siliquosus W/C

Subfamily Siphonochiloideae
Tribe Siphonochileae

  • Siphonochilus kirkii

Subfamily Zingiberoideae
Tribe Globbeae

  • Gagnepainia thoreliana
  • Globba annamensis
  • Globba curtisii W/C
  • Globba kerrii W/C
  • Globba orixensis W/C
  • Globba radicalis W/C
  • Globba schomburgkii W/C
  • Globba unifolia
  • Globba arracanensis W/C
  • Globba marantina W/C
  • Globba marantina W/C
  • Globba pendula W/C
  • Globba pendula W/C
  • Globba winitii
  • Hemiorchis rhodorrhachis W/C

Subfamily Zingiberoideae
Tribe Zingibereae

  • Boesenbergia albomaculata W/C
  • Boesenbergia kingii W/C
  • Boesenbergia longiflora W/C
  • Boesenbergia maxwellii W/C
  • Boesenbergia pulcherrima W/C
  • Boesenbergia rotunda W/C
  • Curcuma aeruginosa W/C
  • Curcuma aff. elata
  • Curcuma attenuata W/C
  • Curcuma colorata
  • Curcuma heyneana
  • Curcuma longa W/C
  • Curcuma petiolata W/C
  • Curcuma phaeocaulis W/C
  • Curcuma rubrobracteata W/C
  • Curcuma viridiflora W/C
  • Curcuma attenuta aff. W/C
  • Curcuma longa
  • Curcuma longa
  • Curcuma petiolata W/C
  • Curcuma singularis W/C
  • Distichochlamys rubrostriata W/C
  • Haniffia albiflora
  • Hedychium forrestii W/C
  • Hedychium rubrum
  • Hedychium aff. flavescens
  • Hedychium coronarium
  • Hedychium gardnerianum
  • Hedychium greenii
  • Hedychium hasseltii
  • Hedychium horsfieldii
  • Hedychium longicornutum W/C
  • Kaempferia gilbertii
  • Kaempferia parviflora
  • Kaempferia Roscoeana
  • Kaempferia sp. Hieroglyphics
  • Larsenianthus careyanus
  • Rhynchanthus beesianus W/C
  • Smithatris myanmarensis W/C
  • Stahlianthus involucratus
  • Stahlianthus involucratus W/C
  • Zingiber corallinum W/C
  • Zingiber flavovirens W/C
  • Zingiber montanum W/C
  • Zingiber rubens W/C
  • Zingiber zerumbet
  • Zingiber aff. roseum W/C
  • Zingiber longiligulatum W/C
  • Zingiber montanum W/C
  • Zingiber roseum W/C
  • Zingiber spectabile
W/C = Wild Collected
= indicates flowering in past 14 days
= images available for this accession
= map available for this accession
= accession added within past 90 days
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