Leaf of the Day: Dancing Lady Ginger Flower

With so many gingers springing up and flowering I am going to try to devote the next few days mainly to drawing gingers and their relations. This one is probably the most complicated flower I have tackled so far and it may well not get past this sketch stage.



But how can such an astonishingly dainty little thing like this be given such an ungainly Latin name. However you say it, Globba winitii does not trip lightly off the tongue.

This little plant originated from Thailand and Vietnam and arrived in Europe in the 1700s. Linnaeus named them, possibly from their Indionesean name "galoba" which seems slightly more attractive, but this branch of the ginger family can certainly rise above its awkward taxonomy purely on looks alone.
Globba winitii is one of many varieties of globba, all differing in design and colour. The dangling inflorescence is adorned with purple bracts and delicate yellow flowers and the slightest puff of wind has them dancing like little puppets. They are said to look like traditional Thai dancers or possibly tiny fire breathing dragons, there is a particularly pretty white version called White Dragon.



There are many good photos and information about cultivation and varieties of gingers on this site. http://www.gingersrus.com/ and the image of the white dragon is from http://www.heliconiaparadise.com/
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Dancing Lady Ginger