Hedychium flavescens

Native from eastern Nepal to Sichuan in China, this plant is a perennial herb that spreads through thick, branching underground rhizomes. Its upright leafy stems can reach about eight feet tall. Dense, cone-shaped flower clusters bear fragrant cream to pale yellow flowers, each with a broad, two-lobed lip and one conspicuous yellow stamen. The species is cultivated as an ornamental and grows in moist forest margins, clearings and streamside habitats. In New Zealand it is an invasive environmental weed, forming dense rhizome beds that suppress other plants. Photographed in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.