From the Greek hedys – sweet, chion – snow. H. coronarium has fragrant white flowers.
Leaves large with well-developed ligules. Flower clusters terminal on leafy stems, many-flowered, spike like or branched; bracts broad and closely overlapping. Flowers 2-3 per bract. Calyx cylindrical, 3-parted. Corolla tubular with linear segments. Lip showy and usually 2-lobed. Lateral sterile stamens petallike. Ovary 3-chambered, hairy. Fruit an orange loculicidal capsule with bright red seeds and red arils.
By division of the rhizomes.
The stems of some species are used for paper, other species have rhizomes that are used in perfumery.
Flower clusters on leafy shoots; lateral sterile stamens large and petal-like; filament long and thin; anthers not versatile.
About 45 species mostly from the Himalayas with a few in southern India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Schilling (1982).
Other species may be found in specialist collections.
Source: (2005). Zingiberaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.