taxonID	type	description	language	source
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	description	(Fig. 1)	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	materials_examined	TYPE MATERIAL. — Nepal • Buchanan-Hamilton s. n.; lectotype: LINN [8.34!], here designated (Fig. 1 A).	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	biology_ecology	PHENOLOGY AND ECOLOGY. — Flowering from August to September. Fruiting September to October. Flowers are not remarkably fragrant.	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	distribution	GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION. — India (Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland), Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal; this taxon is distributed at an elevation of more than 1400 m.	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	conservation	IUCN STATUS. — We categorize it as data deficient (DD) following the IUCN guidelines (IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee 2024).	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	etymology	ETYMOLOGY. — The specific epithet, “ thyrsiforme ”, refers to the inflorescence: panicle-like or thyrsoid (thyrsi-); resembling or shaped (- forme).	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	vernacular_names	VERNACULAR NAME. — Pincushion Ginger Lily.	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	description	MORPHOLOGICAL AFFINITIES. — Hedychium thyrsiforme closely resembles H. larsenii in its pyramidal inflorescence, white flowers, and the size of the labellum, lateral staminodes, and filament. However, the two species differ in the lengths of the bracteole, calyx, floral tube, anther, and lamina (Table 1). PHYLOGENETIC PLACEMENT. — Hedychium thyrsiforme is consistently recovered in the clade IV in phylogenetic reconstructions of the genus (Wood et al. 2000; Ashokan et al. 2022). DESCRIPTION Terrestrial, rhizomatous herb up to 1.2 m tall; rhizome branching parallel to leaf distichy, pale brown externally, creamy white internally; leafy shoot slanting with an erect inflorescence; basal sheath greenish. Leaves sessile; sheath pale green; ligule 3.2 - 4.8 cm wide, ovate, densely sericeous, pale green; lamina 31 - 44 × 8 - 14 cm, elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous and dark green (adaxial) and densely sericeous and pale green (abaxial); acumen 2.5 - 3.0 cm long, ends in a small caducous appendage; base cuneate. Inflorescence 8 - 13 × 6 - 10 cm, dense, pyramidal; rachis hidden; peduncle pubescent, green; bracts 2.5 (3.2 × 1.1 - 1.2 cm, elliptic, puberulent, green, folded, involute, 2 - 6 flowered; bracteoles 2.0 - 2.5 cm long, tubular, pubescent, pale green. Flowers 11.5 - 13.5 cm long, ascending, white (when fresh), dull white the second day, many flowers (10 - 15) open simultaneously, faintly fragrant; calyx 2.4 - 3.0 cm long, tubular, translucent, 3 - toothed at tip, slightly hairy at tip, pale green; floral tube 3.4 - 4.2 × 0.2 - 0.3 cm, glabrous, erect, white; corolla lobes linear, curled, orientated downwards, glabrous, pale green; dorsal lobe 5.2 - 5.9 cm long, linear, curled (more curled as the flower ages), glabrous, beaked at tip, embracing the filament and anther in the bud stage, pale green; lateral lobes 5.1 - 5.7 cm long, linear, curled (more curled as the flower ages), non-beaked at tip, glabrous, white; lateral staminodes 3.0 - 3.6 cm long, widest part 0.4 cm, narrowly oblanceolate, one edge linear, obtuse, unguiculate, upper halves reflexed backwards, positioned acute (<80 °) with respect to labellum, white, pale yellow towards base; central labellum 2.2 - 3.0 × 2.0 - 2.5 cm, orbicular, glabrous, white with light yellow blotch, bilobed, canaliculate, distinctly clawed; lobes acute, upper halves slightly reflexed backwards; sinus 0.9 - 1.3 cm deep; claw 1.0 - 1.3 × 0.2 - 0.3 cm; filament 5.5 - 6.5 cm long, slightly arching, deeply grooved on one side, white; anther 0.9 - 1.1 cm long, linear, basifixed, cream white; thecae 2, split longitudinally; connective 0.1 - 0.2 cm long, cream white; stigma 0.1 cm wide, cup-shaped, hairy at tip, exserted from the anther by at least 0.1 cm, greenish yellow; style 11.4 - 13.4 cm long, filiform, white; epigynous nectaries 0.3 - 0.6 cm long, glabrous, pale yellow; ovary 0.3 - 0.4 × 0.2 - 0.3 cm, barrel-shaped, pubescent, yellowish green; placentation axile; ovules spherical, white. Fruit not seen.	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
0386460BFFEEFFD5FC0E6804FD83BDDF.taxon	discussion	TYPIFICATION REMARKS Francis Buchanan-Hamilton (1762 - 1829), a Scottish surgeon with the British East India Company, participated in a diplomatic mission to Nepal from 1802 to 1803, during which he collected numerous plants, including Hedychium (Watson & Noltie, 2016). On his return to Britain, he gave his collections, notes and drawings to J. E. Smith, the founding President of the Linnean Society of London, and the person to whom the Court of Directors of the British East India Company turned when they needed botanical advice (Watson & Noltie, 2016). A partial set of Buchanan-Hamilton’s botanical collections also went to Aylmer Bourke Lambert; this material is now at the Natural History Museum, London while the material given to J. E. Smith is still held at the Linnean Society of London. Using Buchanan-Hamilton’s collections and notes, Smith described four species of Hedychium including H. thyrsiforme. The entry in Rees’s Cyclopaedia for H. thyrsiforme should be quoted, ‘ Gathered by Dr Buchanan, in August 1802, at Narainhetty, in Upper Nepal, with the last [H. spicatum], from which by name the natives do not distinguish it’. During our visit to the Linnean Society of London Herbarium (LINN), we discovered a specimen of H. thyrsiforme in the Smith Herbarium at LINN. This specimen carries the date “ August 1802 ” and the location “ Narainhetty, Upper Nepal ” as recorded in Rees’s Cyclopaedia (Smith, 1811). Based on this finding, we designate it as the lectotype.	en	Ashokan, Ajith, Gowda, Vinita (2026): Lectotypification of Hedychium thyrsiforme Buch. - Ham. ex Sm. (Zingiberaceae). Adansonia (3) 48 (1): 1-5, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2026v48a1
