Cautleya gracilis
Cautleya, sometimes called "hardy ginger", is very rare in the US nursery trade, but a wonderful addition to the partly shaded garden. It's a native of the eastern Himalayas, ranging to from India to western China, living mainly in moist soil in the valleys, but sometimes as an epiphyte in trees, where it roots in the leaf litter that accumulates in forks. As its species name suggests, C. gracilis is a slender, sparsely-leaved plant with the appearance of a miniature ginger. It grows to as much as 2', with leaves that are deep green on top with maroon undersides similar to Hedychium greenei. The long flower buds alternate maroon and yellow bands. In the open flower, these bands expand to show the yellow flower and its maroon bracts. The flower is much like Roscoea cautleioides, (this species name meaning Cautleya-like) but larger and showier. Bloom continues over a month or more, with each flower lasting 3-5 days. Hardy to zone 7, it is deciduous and winter-dormant, so can be overwintered in a cool, dark location in colder climates.
Cautleya gracilis 4" pot $10.00 SOLD OUT. Only the green form below is available for the foreseeable future.
There are two forms of this plant, one with the above-described maroon undersides and flower bracts, the other with completely green leaves and completely yellow flowers. To look at them, one would think they are two different species in the same genus. In the past, this is how they were classified, albeit in a confusing way: you would think the all-yellow flower would be called lutea, which usually indicates yellow, but no, they called the maroon and yellow species lutea and the all-yellow species gracilis. But now the botanical powers-that-be have decreed that they are one and the same species, which they call gracilis. I'm sure this is perfectly reasonable, although it appears completely wrong.
