Alpinia purpurata (White Cone Ginger)

A cultivated white form of a species native from the Maluku Islands of Indonesia to the southwestern Pacific, this evergreen perennial herb forms clumps from underground rhizomes. Its white bracts surround small tubular flowers and give the flower heads their cone-like appearance. Its flowering stems are used in floral arrangements. New plants can be raised by dividing the rhizomes or rooting the leafy plantlets that develop among the bracts. The species has naturalized on Kauaʻi and Molokaʻi in Hawaii. Photographed in the department of Quindio, Colombia.