Renealmia pyramidalis (Lam.) Maas

  • Authority

    Maas, Paulus J. M. 1977. Renealmia (Zingiberaceae--Zingiberoideae), Costoideae (Additions) (Zingiberaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 18: 1-218. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Zingiberaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Renealmia pyramidalis (Lam.) Maas

  • Type

    TYPE. Table 48 from an unpublished manuscript by Plumier, since the original herbarium material collected by Plumier or Surian in Martinique could not be located with certainty.

  • Synonyms

    Alpinia racemosa, Amomum pyramidale Lam., Renealmia racemosa Poepp. & Endl., Renealmia caribaea Griseb., Alpinia caribaea (Griseb.) Kuntze, Alpinia plumieri E.H.L.Krause

  • Description

    Description - Plants 1-3 m tall. Rhizomes 10-20 mm thick. Sheaths striate, 8-10 mm wide, to 20 mm at the base of the plant, glabrous. Ligule 3-4 mm long, glabrous. Petiole absent. Lamina narrowly elliptic, acuminate at the apex (acumen 10-20 mm long), cuneate at the base, (15-)25-45 cm long, (5-)8-12(-15) cm wide, glabrous on both sides. Inflorescence a terminal thyrse 6-25 cm long and 4-8 cm wide, with 2-4 flowered cincinni, rhachis 2-5 mm thick. Indument of inflorescence: rhachis, peduncles, bracteoles, pedicels, calyx, ovary, and capsule sparsely to densely covered with erect, simple hairs (0.1-0.2 mm long), bracts and corolla sparsely so or glabrous. Bracts white, deciduous during fructification, narrowly triangular-ovate to triangular-ovate, acute or obtuse, 10-50 mm long, 4-10 mm wide (the lower, sterile ones 60-200 X 10-15 mm). Peduncles 5-20 mm long. Bracteole white, 13-20 m long (according to Gagnepain 6-8 mm long ??). Pedicels 5-20 mm long. Calyx white to pale green, slightly turbinate, 7-11 mm long, 5-8 mm wide, the lobes deltate to shallowly triangular, 2-4 mm long, 4-5 mm wide. Corolla white at the base, 15-19 mm long, the tube 8-10 mm long, the lobes white to pink, 7-9 mm long, 4-8 mm wide. Labellum pale pink to white, 8-10 mm long and 8-11 mm wide when spread out, glabrous, the limb horizontally spreading, ca 4 mm long, 8-11 mm wide, the lateral lobes rounded, 2-4 mm long, (3-)4-5 mm wide, the middle lobe bilobulate, the lobules triangular, 2-3 mm long, ca 2 mm wide, basal claw 4 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, lateral staminodes 1-1.5 mm long. Anther 4-6 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, glabrous. Style 15-16 mm long. Nectarial glands multilobulate, completely surrounding the style base, ca 2 mm long. Ovary green, narrowly ellipsoid. Capsule green, maturing red and finally black, ellipsoid, 10-17 X 5-10 mm, its wall ca 0.2 mm thick when dry (ca 2 mm in living material), 10-25-seeded, seeds 2-3 X 3-4 mm, aril orange.

  • Discussion

    Renealmia pyramidalis is endemic to the Lesser Antilles; it cannot easily be confused with R. jamaicensis from which it differs by its white bracts, much larger leaves, and indument.

    This species has often been incorrectly named Renealmia racemosa (Linnaeus)

    A. Richard. The names which have played an important role in this nomenclatural confusion are:

    1. Alpina racemosa alba, Plumier, Mscr. 5: t. 48. This unpublished manuscript of Plumier now is deposited at Paris (Bibl. Centr. Mus. Hist. Nat.). In 1755 Plumier published this species in his Plant. Americ. (using his original drawing, with some minor alterations). His description of Alpinia (1703) was probably also based on the same material. The original Plumier herbarium material (+drawing) also served for Linnaeus’ (1753) description of Alpinia racemosa. According to Gagnepain (1903), who made an excellent and intensive study of the nomenclature of the present, R. pyramidalis and R. jamaicensis, there is a herbarium specimen of Plumier’s Alpinia racemosa alba preserved in the Paris herbarium: “Le genre Alpinia est fondé sur la plante figurée par Plumier, (Amer. tab. 20), l'Alpinia racemosa de Linné, dont il reste un spécimen dans son herbier...”

    2. Amomum racemosum Lamarck (1783), a superfluous name for Amomum cardamom Linnaeus.

    3. Amomum racemosum Ruiz & Pavon (1798), illegitimate name, since the heterotypic Amomum racemosum was already published by Lamarck fifteen years before.

    4. Renealmia racemosa Poeppig & Endlicher (1838). Based on Amomum racemosum Ruiz & Pavon. This is the correct name for the Peruvian and Bolivian species, formerly called R. micrantha or R. ruiziana.

    5. Renealmia racemosa (Linnaeus) A. Richard (1850). This combination is invalid since the name Renealmia racemosa Poeppig & Endlicher was already available. The next oldest basionym available for the species under discussion is Lamarck’s Amomum pyramidale (1783), based on Linnaeus’ Alpinia racemosa. Lamarck’s epithet “pyramidale” is not invalid, since he had already given the name Amomum racemosum to another species (in the same paper, see under 2).

    Conclusion: the combination Renealmia pyramidalis (Lamarck) Maas had to be made for this Lesser Antillean species.

  • Objects

    Specimen - 1505729, A. Duss 3328, Renealmia alpinia (Rottb.) Maas, Zingiberaceae (61.0), Magnoliophyta; West Indies, Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre

    Specimen - 1505850, A. Duss 2217, Renealmia pyramidalis (Lam.) Maas, Zingiberaceae (61.0), Magnoliophyta; West Indies, Martinique

  • Distribution

    A common species in the Lesser Antilles; in lowland or mountain rain forest, from sea-level to 1300 m.