Amomum microcarpum C. F. Liang & D. Fang

Medicinal.

Plants ca. 2.5 m tall. Leaves sessile; ligule entire, 4--10 mm, hairy, apex rounded, rarely emarginate; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate, 20--60 × 2.5--9 cm, sparsely pilose, base cuneate, apex with caudate tip 1.5--3 cm. Spikes with densely appressed hairy peduncle and rachis; bracts brown, lanceolate to ovate, ca. 3 cm, subglabrous except hairy at base; bracteoles reddish with brownish apex, ca. 1.7 cm, apex 2- or 3-toothed. Calyx reddish with whitish apex, ca. 1.7 cm, glabrous, apex slightly 3-toothed. Corolla reddish; corolla tube nearly as long as calyx; central lobe oblong-ovate, ca. 1.1 cm × 8 mm, apex cucullate; lateral lobes narrower than central one. Lateral staminodes linear, 5--6 mm, apex entire. Labellum white with yellow midvein and red-dotted base, orbicular, ca. 1.8 × 1.5 cm, base attenuate, pubescent, apex 2-cleft. Anther ca. 5 mm; connective appendage slightly 3-lobed, 2--3 mm, central lobe wider than lateral ones. Ovary appressed villous. Capsule purplish, ovoid, 1--1.5 × 0.8--1.2 cm, sparsely appressed villous, with soft spines. Seeds black. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Aug--Sep.

S Guangxi (Dongxing Xian).

* Dense forests; 300--500 m.