Hellenia speciosa(J.Koenig) S.R.Dutta

canereed

WFO wfo-1000050071 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Cheongweei Gan
fig. a Cheongweei Gan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-18 / obs. 183502709
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Navaneeth Sini George
fig. b Navaneeth Sini George, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174946411
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Cheryl McCleary-Catalano
fig. c Cheryl McCleary-Catalano, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174060073
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Anthony Batista
fig. d Anthony Batista, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171484168
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by 雲一百香果
fig. e 雲一百香果, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170571930
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Francis Pérez
fig. f Francis Pérez, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170453437
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Beah Vega
fig. g Beah Vega, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176243714
Hellenia speciosa, photographed by Haneesh K M
fig. h Haneesh K M, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163719981

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 30 botanical countries

Regions where Hellenia speciosa is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Queensland China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaQueensland Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Hellenia speciosa, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 280 in flower of 331 examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Hellenia speciosa observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 280 of 331 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 42 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Amomum arboreum Lour.
  • Amomum hirsutum Lam.
  • Banksea speciosa J.Koenig
  • Cardamomum arboreum (Lour.) Kuntze
  • Cheilocostus potierae (F.Muell.) M.G.Harr. & Zich
  • Cheilocostus speciosus (J.Koenig) C.D.Specht
  • Costus angustifolius Ker Gawl.
  • Costus argyrophyllus Wall.
  • Costus crispiflorus Stokes
  • Costus foeniculaceus Noronha
  • Costus formosanus Nakai
  • Costus formosanus (Nakai) S.S.Ying
  • Costus glaber (K.Schum.) Merr.
  • Costus glabratus Rchb.
  • Costus hirsutus Blume
  • Costus lamingtonii F.M.Bailey
  • Costus loureiroi Horan.
  • Costus nepalensis Roscoe
  • Costus potierae F.Muell.
  • Costus sericeus Blume
  • Costus speciosus (J.Koenig) Sm.
  • Costus speciosus var. angustifolius Ker Gawl.
  • Costus speciosus var. argyrophyllus Wall. ex Baker
  • Costus speciosus var. dilnavaziae M.R.Almeida & S.M.Almeida

and 18 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol COSP8. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.