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September 5, 2007 : Curcuma alismatifolia (tentative)
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Keywords: Zingiberaceae | Curcuma alismatifolia Gagnep. (tentative) | cultivated
xavierraynaudphoto@Flickr is the photographer behind today's image (original image via BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you!
I've titled this plant with a tentative name, as it is my own identification; with 80 species in the genus, some cultivars and a number of unnamed hybrids, I can't say for certain whether this is indeed what it is. It does seem to have the qualities of Curcuma alismatifolia, including (I'm guessing) its use as a cut flower.
If my identification is correct, then the common name for this plant is Siam tulip or summer tulip (though, as is often the case with common names, it is not a tulip, but rather a ginger relative). In the wild, some of the densest populations of this species can be found in Pa Hin Ngam National Park of north-central Thailand. The range of the species extends southward from Thailand into Cambodia and northward to Burma and Laos.
The first collection of this species by Western explorers occurred in 1859, when the British explorer Robert Hermann Schomburgk collected it in Thailand (while he was serving as the British Consul-General). It was next collected in 1875 by Parisian botanist Godefroy–Lebeuf (at the age of 23) from Cambodia. The species was finally scientifically named forty-four years after Schomburgk first collected it by the French botanist, Gagnepain.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at September 5, 2007 7:00 AM
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Posted by: George L. 
at September 5, 2007 8:51 AM
Very nice and today I learned more. What a wonderful way to expand my botanical knowledge.
Thank you, Margaret-Rae
Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at September 5, 2007 9:21 AM
I wonder if there is actually some logic to the common name, as this plant seems (from the wiki picture) to grow in open grassland in forest margins? More like real Tulips than many gingers -- which are understory plants, at least in my mind.
Posted by: max at September 5, 2007 12:52 PM
It looks a bit like a calla lily.
Posted by: Karen Vieira at September 5, 2007 1:37 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Hey Daniel,
Perhaps you could regale us with a few "discovery", (by Europeans), tales from time to time. Maybe some excerpts from some expedition diaries and such. The Victoria Regia story might be interesting. Thanks again for all this daily richness. Glad to give you something else to keep you off the streets. Cheers! George ~