Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger (Globba schomburgkii)

Globba schomburgkii Hook. f. 1876, commonly called Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger, is a tropical, rhizomatous plant, belonging to the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).

The Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger (Globba schomburgkii) has been described by the famous English botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) and named in honour to the German explorer Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804 - 1865), who carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies for Great Britain. Globba schomburgkii is native to South China (Yunnan), Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand and Vietnam and get a height up to 60 cm. Whilst temperatures drop below 18° C the ginger plant goes dormant and will awake again with the end of the hot season and the beginning of the rainy season in June or July. Each stem produces an inflorescence with pendant yellow flowers with a red spot. Globba schomburgkii is often confused with Globba marantina L. 1771, which is a similar, but smaller Globba species plant, without a red spot on the lip. The yellow dancing girl ginger requires a warm to hot and humid climate, a shady - semi-shady location and regularyly watering during the growth and flowering period. While the tropical plant goes dormant, watering should be restricted to once a week. Even if this Globba species is considered as an easy to care plant, it`s also reported as invasive.

Flower Photography © Orchids Flowers.com
Image: Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger (Globba schomburgkii)

Flower Photography © Orchids Flowers.com
Image: Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger (Globba schomburgkii)