Alpinia purpurata (Pink Ginger)

Native from the Maluku Islands of Indonesia to the southwestern Pacific, this evergreen perennial herb spreads by underground rhizomes to form large clumps. Pink forms are grown as tropical cut flowers and landscape plants. The colorful structures surrounding the small white flowers are bracts. Leafy plantlets sometimes develop among them and can be rooted to produce new plants; clumps can also be divided. In Hawaii, both red and pink forms produce cut flowers year-round, with peak production in summer. The species has naturalized on Kauaʻi and Molokaʻi in Hawaii. Photographed in the department of Magdalena, Colombia.