Amomum pterocarpum Thwaites

Rhizome perennial, thick, fleshy, vertical portion 2-3.5 cm in diameter, horizontal portion creeping just below the soil surface, c. 2.5 cm in diameter. Leafy shoot 2-2.5 m tall, leaves are produced towards the upper half. Leaves almost sessile or petiolate, petiole 2.5-3 cm long; ligule 1.5-2.5 cm long, membranous, bifid, sheath areolate, glabrous; lamina 20-60 x 8-1 2 cm, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, narrowed and unequal at the base, densely pubescent on the lower surface, upper glabrous. Peduncle 5-12 cm, ascending, clothed with 2 x 2 cm, broadly ovate, glabrous sheaths. Inflorescence many flowered. Bracts very small, membranous, early deciduous. Braeteoles absent. Flowers white, on pedicels up to 5 mm long. Calyx 2.5 cm long, tubular, distinctly 3- lobed, the lobes more or less acuminate, each with a very small subapical spur, glabrous. Corolla tube almost equal to the calyx; lobes almost equal, 2.5 cm long, glabrous; dorsal lobe 1 cm wide, cucullate; laterals linear, 5 mm wide, lanceolate. Labellum 3-3.5 x 2 cm, lower portion narrowed into a 6 mm claw, limb ovate-orbicular, white with yellow in the centre, red spotted near the throat, pubescent at throat within, a few scattered hairs on limb. Lateral staminodes reduced to two short appendages, at the base of the labellum. Filament short, c. 2 mm long; anther 1.2-1.4 cm long, thecae narrow, diverging at the tips, connective prolonged into 1 x 0.3 cm, semilunar, obscurely 3-lobed crest. Epigynous glands two, 4-6 mm long, linear, free. Ovary elongated, 6-8 x 3 mm, very shortly but densely pubescent, trilocular. Capsule 9-ribbed, ribs winged, 3-3 .5 x 1.5-2 cm, with persistent calyx. Seeds many, white, 3 x 2 mm, arillate.