Family: Zingiberaceae

Status:

Description:
An erect perennial herb to about 2m high, which forms large clumps over time. Leaves are long and broadly strap-like to 40 cm long by 15cm wide, glossy and pale to dark green, arranged alternately on a pithy stem. Flowers are pleasantly fragrant, cream to yellow, with long red stamens. The fruit is a thin-walled capsule, with an orange inner surface. The seeds are bright red and shiny.

Preferred habitat and impacts:
Sunny or shady forest edges, generally growing where it has been dumped. Tolerates dry or wet soils, and frost once it is established.

It forms dense stands which smother all native groundcover vegetation, prevent regeneration of trees and shrubs and eliminate habitat for native fauna. It could have an impact on fire frequency in native vegetation since the lush clumps are likely to be very fire retardant, making infested bush difficult to burn.

Ginger lily is not a substitute for the edible ginger (Zingiber officinale).

Dispersal:
Clumps spread rapidly from underground rhizomes. Dumping of garden waste will spread the plant vegetatively. Seed is spread by birds, water and in contaminated soil or dumped garden waste.

Look-alikes:
Other species of Hedychium used as garden plants (these have red or white flowers). Canna lily or Indian shot (Canna indica ) is a similar garden plant which is also weedy north of about Batemans Bay. It has broader leaves which are green to purple, and flowers which may be yellow, orange or red, followed by a prickly seed capsule.

Control:
Infestations can be dug out, but all of the rhizome must be removed and destroyed off-site, as any rhizome left in the ground will regrow. Plants left lying on the soil surface make take root again. The root system is relatively shallow, so plants can be peeled off the soil surface with less effort than might be expected. Scrape soil away on both sides of the thick rhizome and cut side roots with a knife, mattock or secateurs. The rhizome can then be lifted.