Hedychium carneum ("Nikuiroshukusha")

Japanese name: ニクイロシュクシャ （肉色縮砂）
Scientific name: Hedychium carneum

[Overview]
A perennial 1–2 m tall.
It has a rhizome.
The leaves are simple and alternate in two rows, lanceolate, 40 cm long and 5 cm wide, with silky hairs on the main vein on the underside.
What looks like a stem is a pseudostem, formed by overlapping leaf sheaths.
A flower stalk extends from among the leaves and bears many flowers in a spike 15–30 cm long.
The inflorescence has green, tubular bracts, and the flowers open between the bracts.
The flowers are yellowish pale pink (flesh-colored); three petal-like staminodes stand out, and one of them forms a lip and is shallowly lobed.
There is one fertile stamen, with a thick orange filament that projects far out of the flower.
The stigma of the pistil projects shortly from the tip of the anther of the fertile stamen.
The flowers are fragrant.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
It prefers fertile, slightly moist soil that is well drained and retains water well.
It dislikes dryness.
It can be in full sun from autumn to spring, but a place that avoids direct summer sun and strong afternoon sun is suitable.
It may be knocked over by strong wind, so a windbreak is helpful.
It tolerates temperatures down to about 7°C and can overwinter if the soil does not freeze, so in warm regions it can overwinter outdoors with a straw mulch or mounded soil.
In cold regions, dig up the rhizomes when the leaves begin to die back, bury them in moistened vermiculite, sawdust or similar so they do not dry out completely, and store them in a place where they will not freeze.
Rainfall is sufficient for watering unless sunny weather continues in summer and the soil dries out.
Apply slow-release fertilizer placed on the soil from spring to autumn.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

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