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The White Ginger or Butterfly Flower, with its scented white flowers and luxuriant foliage, is a fine example of a beautiful garden plant turned environmental weed.
White Ginger is native to the Himalayas and has been introduced to gardens in moist, cool to warm climates all over the world. Australia, New Zealand, Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador including the Galápagos Islands and Hawaii are some of the locations where White Ginger has naturalized in the wild and has become an environmental weed at many locations with high biodiversity values. DescriptionWhite Ginger is a tall herb, growing to 2 m high. Leafy shoots and flowering stems grow from thick spreading underground rhizomes. The spreading “butterfly” flowers are showy and fragrant. Related to the root ginger used as a culinary spice (both in the Family Zingiberaceae), the rhizomes of the White Ginger are also used in cooking in some parts of the world. Growing ConditionsPreferred environments are well-watered and partially shaded with at least moderately fertile soils. Streambanks suit the plant perfectly, but once established, the plant will persist in drier conditions. Ecological ImpactsWhite Ginger is very competitive as it grows in thick spreading clumps, with matted rhizomes in the soil. Water, nutrients and light are captured effectively so that native plants are excluded. Growing into the edge of small waterways, it can effectively clog creeks and streams. Attempts to dig it out cause major soil disturbance, and usually fail when remaining fragments shoot again. Hence chemical control is needed, with obvious issues especially near waterways. How It SpreadsWhite Ginger does not set seed at many of the locations where it has become naturalised and clumps expand as new rhizomes spread from the edges. Cut stems can take root if placed on the ground in moist conditions, but most dispersal happens when rhizomes are spread by water or soil movement or deliberately by humans. Gifts of divisions from garden plants can be transported long distances. Many infestations begin when garden rubbish is dumped on roadsides and wasteland, often in the mistaken belief that all organic material will break down and return to the soil. Avoiding Weed ProblemsAuthorities in some districts where environmental weeds are problematic will list and recommend avoidance of some garden species. Check locally, and if White Ginger is, or potentially could be, an environmental weed near your garden, look for another alternative, perhaps a native species. Persistent digging can control small patches, but take care to destroy the excavated material e.g. by hanging or laying in the sun to dry. Expert advice is necessary to control larger weed infestations, especially when chemical use is necessary.
The copyright of the article Hedychium Coronarium in Plant Species is owned by Barbara Stewart. Permission to republish Hedychium Coronarium in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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