Hellwigia Warb.

Senjaya, Seni Kurnia, Poulsen, Axel Dalberg, Ardiyani, Marlina & Cronk, Quentin C. B., 2025, Reinstatement of Hellwigia Warb. (Zingiberaceae) and its molecular and morphological delimitation, PhytoKeys 261, pp. 233-273 : 233-273

Hellwigia Warb. , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 13: 279 (1891), emend. Seni Senjaya & Axel D. Poulsen

Fig. 5

Eriolopha Ridl. , Hook. Ic. P 1. t. 3067 1916.

Type.

Hellwigia pulchra Warb. , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 13: 279 1891.

Description.

Small- to large-sized herb, ± clump-forming. Leaves distichously arranged, sessile to long-petiolate. Inflorescence terminal to the leafy shoot (rarely subterminal); peduncles often long, pendulous, or ascending to erect. Inflorescence architecture a thyrse, with a racemose main axis and zigzag monochasial cyme lateral branches, or a secondarily branched thyrse, with secondary branches also bearing such cymes. In some species (e. g., A. calycodes , A. euastra ), cincinni congested and appearing involucre-like, though overall structure remains thyrsoid. Cincinni sessile to pedunculate arranged secund, spirally alternate, alternate and distichous, or subverticillate along the main or secondary axes. Flowers usually densely arranged within cincinni; solitary in some species (e. g., A. albipurpurea ). Primary bracts (cincinnus bracts) either small and inconspicuous or seemingly absent, or large, brightly colored, often obscuring the main axis, and typically persistent. In species with small or absent primary bracts, inflorescence bracts usually large, papery, and caducous. Bracteoles always tubular. Flowers sessile or pedicellate; bisexual or dimorphic, with both hermaphrodite and male flowers on the same plant. Calyx narrowly or distinctly 3 - lobed, when distinctly lobed, often elongated. Corolla with dorsal lobe almost always cucullate. Labellum linear or narrowly oblong, occasionally more or less triangular. Lateral staminodes present or sometimes absent. Filament usually well-developed, sometimes bearing two subapical tooth-like structures; anther may be sessile. Connective appendage sometimes crested; in dimorphic species, the crest is present on hermaphrodite flowers and absent in male flowers. Stigmas erect and more or less obconical, with a flattened ventral surface bearing a centrally positioned, narrow, horizontal elliptic orifice. Occasionally clavate, with a rounded orifice subapically or ventrally; rarely geniculate, with a small terminal orifice. Epigynous glands always large, splitting irregularly. Fruit typically globose, occasionally obovoid, and rarely pyriform.

Distribution.

At least 76 species (previously recognized as Alpinia ) distributed in the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Caroline Islands, the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, Papua, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, and the Southwest Pacific Islands ( Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu) (Fig. 3 ). The greatest diversity of Hellwigia is found in the islands of Sulawesi and Papua.

Etymology.

The German botanist Otto Warburg (1859–1938) named the genus after his companion on an expedition in the former Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, currently Papua New Guinea, Franz Carl Hellwig (1861–1889), who died shortly thereafter at Finschhafen. Together, they discovered H. pulchra in the nearby forests above Sattelberg.

Figures

Figure 3. Distribution of species of the Carolinensis clade. I – IV: Subclades I – IV, IS: Incertae Sedis, ND: Not defined (species observed morphologically but without molecular data).

Figure 5. Hellwigia Warb. A. Hellwigia laxisecunda (inflorescence; Poulsen et al. 2482); B. Hellwigia coeruleoviridis (inflorescence; Senjaya et al. 33); C. Hellwigia salomonensis (inflorescence; Poulsen et al. 2581); D. Hellwigia leptostachya (inflorescence; Poulsen et al. 3075); E. Hellwigia pulchra (inflorescence; Poulsen 2468); F. Hellwigia albipurpurea (inflorescence; Poulsen et al. 3018); G. Hellwigia maxii (cincinnus; Poulsen and Firdaus 2656); H. Hellwigia leptostachya (cincinnus; Poulsen et al. 3075); I. Hellwigia pulchra (cincinnus; Poulsen 2468). (Photos: A, C – I. A. D. Poulsen; B. Roland P. P. Ahmad).