Scientists have found more Viet Nam’s endemic ginger species at the Hon Ba Nature Reserve in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

The Geostachys annamensis ginger species, with the Vietnamese name as Dai sa Trung bo, was described for the first time in 1921, with samples collected in Da Lat, Lam Dong province by Henry Nicholas Ridley and Cecil Boden Kloss (1877-1949) during a survey in the Lang Bian Plateau in 1918.

Then this species was identified by Ridley, a scientist from the plant British Museum. This species was last recorded in 1980. So far, there are 10 samples stored in Ha Noi, the British Museum and Paris. All of the samples were derived from Lam Dong province.

In 2010, the Institute of Tropical Biology of Viet Nam and the Praha Botanical Garden of the Czech Republic discovered a single Geostachys tree that fruited in the Hon Ba Nature Reserve but they could not confirm the name due to the lack of flowers.

Then, their flowers were found in the most recent trip of scientists at the Institute of Tropical Biology in late April this year.

A scientist of the Institute of Tropical Biology – Mr. Truong Ba Vuong - sent samples to Ms. Jana Skornickova of the Singapore Botanic Gardens for identification. The test result shows that this species is Geostachys annamensis, which distributes in altitude of over 1,000 m in cold misty weather.

"It proves that the Geostachys species has distribution area extended to the province of Khanh Hoa. It is predicted that in the future, this ginger species can also be found in Ninh Thuan province. The flowering specimen is stored at the Institute of Tropical Biology," said Vuong.

(Source: VietNamNet)