银叶砂仁 yin ye sha ren

Amomum dealbatum Roxburgh var. sericeum (Roxburgh) Baker.

Plants 1--3 m tall. Ligule entire or slightly 2-cleft, 0.5--1.5 cm, membranous, pubescent, apex acute; petiole 4--8(--11) cm; leaf blade lanceolate, 50--65 × 7--15 cm, abaxially silvery pubescent, base cuneate, apex acuminate. Spikes subglobose, 3.5--5 cm in diam.; peduncle 2.5--4 cm, scalelike sheaths ovate, subleathery, apex emarginate; bracts oblong, ca. 3.5 cm, membranous, early deciduous; bracteoles absent. Calyx white, clavate, 2.2--3 cm, villous, apex 3-toothed. Corolla tube white; lobes 2.5--3 cm × 8--10 mm. Lateral staminodes subulate, ca. 5 mm. Labellum with yellow midvein striped red, oblong, 2--3 cm, white pubescent. Filament ca. 4 mm; anther ca. 9 mm; connective appendage semiorbicular, rarely obscurely 3-lobed. Capsule pale brown, obovoid-globose or obconical, ca. 2.5 × 1.5--2 cm, 3--5-angled, glabrous, apex with persistent calyx; pedicel ca. 3 mm. Seeds not fragrant. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jul--Sep. 2 n = 48*.

Wet places in dense forests; 600--1200 m. S Yunnan [India, Myanmar, ?Nepal, ?Sikkim].