Siam Tulips
David A. Bar-Zvi, Former Curator of Herbaceous Monocots
A casual stroll through the Garden is a journey of discovery for both new visitors and long time members of the Garden. New structures are important additions to the Garden, but so are additions to our collections, which are becoming increasingly significant as we invest more time, effort and money into them. One of our objectives is the introduction and trial of new ornamental plants for the South Florida garden, for example, Curcuma cultivars, otherwise known as Siam tulips.
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| David Bar-Zvi |
This group of plants has provided new and colorful additions to several areas of the Garden. Lavender, purple, magenta, pink and white inflorescences stand above their foliage, looking, at first glance, like tulips. These are, in fact, horticultural selections and hybrids of Curcuma alismatifolia, a species of ginger. Specimens found wild in southeast Asia were selected and bred in Thailand. They could become a useful addition to the landscape of South Florida and other areas.
The Garden's plants arrived from Thailand in March, 2003, in the form of dormant rhizomes, each looking like a plump octopus. The underground parts of Curcuma consist of a central rhizome, a thick stem with vegetative buds and several outlying storage tubers, each connected to the rhizome by a thin, root-like extension. With the invaluable help of the Garden Groomer volunteers, all rhizomes were soon planted and placed in the nursery, where they remained dry, just as they would in their ancestral habitat, until they emerged from dormancy.
By the end of May, as the weather warmed and the irrigation increased, the earliest foliage began to show. The gray-green leaves are reminiscent of those of tulips. Some have a red midrib, which adds to their beauty.
By June, the first inflorescences began to push up, the deep pink, foot-tall crowning bracts completing the illusion that these are tulips. However, the resemblance to tulips is superficial only. Small, violet purple flowers peep from among the lower bracts, reminding us that these are really gingers. New inflorescences renew the color throughout the summer.
The display is a prelude to next summer's Gingerfest, July 30 - 31. This event, a celebration of the order of Zingiberales, is part of the preconference portion of the biennial meeting of the Heliconia Society International. The main meeting will be held in Puerto Rico August 3 - 5, 2004.
Thanks to the Heliconia Society of South Florida for making this display possible through a generous gift to Fairchild Tropical Garden.
Garden Views Autumn 2003