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

crepe-ginger

Climate known 58 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Hellenia speciosa, or crêpe ginger, is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial rhizomatous geophyte which is also known by Cheilocostus speciosus and other botanical names.

Text from Wikipedia, “Hellenia speciosa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Hellenia

Hellenia is a genus of plants in the Costaceae described as a genus with this name in 1791. It is native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian subcontinent, New Guinea, and Queensland. The type species was "H. grandiflora" Retz., which is a synonym of Hellenia speciosa.

Text from Wikipedia, “Hellenia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Costaceae
Described by
(J.Koenig) S.R.Dutta
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +27
Wild records
1225 in range· 374 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
May, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2232mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 316 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Costaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2232 mm a year, wettest July at 316 mm, driest January at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Amomum arboreum Lour.; Amomum hirsutum Lam.; Banksea speciosa J.Koenig; Cardamomum arboreum (Lour.) Kuntze; Cheilocostus potierae (F.Muell.) M.G.Harr. & Zich and 45 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Costaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1609 mm of 2232 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2232 mm a year, wettest July at 316 mm, driest January at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2232 mm a year at the habitat, 1609 mm of it May to October. Wettest month July at 316 mm, driest January at 51 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1655 mm to 3952 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 16.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 16.9 °C, the absolute minimum 15.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.2 °C to 24.5 °C), warmest day 28.8 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 29 °C in May; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2232 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 724 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 15.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°34.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)15.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 28–35RH 63–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 724 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 18–3028 / 19–3128 / 22–3329 / 25–3329 / 26–3229 / 26–3128 / 25–3128 / 25–3128 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 23–3027 / 19–30
Night °C20 / 10–2520 / 12–2521 / 14–2522 / 17–2623 / 20–2623 / 20–2623 / 20–2523 / 20–2523 / 20–2522 / 18–2521 / 15–2520 / 11–25
Rain mm51 / 6–42289 / 10–350121 / 22–349173 / 52–312237 / 116–377279 / 144–616316 / 138–731302 / 130–683283 / 139–460192 / 64–372132 / 26–36457 / 8–367
DLI30 / 22–3633 / 24–3935 / 29–4135 / 30–4233 / 29–3931 / 25–3431 / 24–3631 / 24–3531 / 27–3730 / 27–3629 / 23–3528 / 21–34
RH %63 / 55–7164 / 54–7064 / 54–7065 / 57–7066 / 62–7167 / 63–7167 / 64–7267 / 64–7267 / 64–7166 / 61–7165 / 57–7163 / 55–71

Each figure is the median across the 724 grid cells holding the 1178 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1875:6032 (-3.775, 121.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 15.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 724 distinct grid cells holding the 1178 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1875:6032 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -4.00_121.875, lapse-corrected +148 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 454 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Queensland· introduced: Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Caroline Is., Hawaii, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker23.464, 120.613 · in the densest population, 419 records (34% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1225 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 374 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 505 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 47 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1225 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosaHellenia speciosa

Photographs: (c) Rejoice Gassah, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) vrxz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Cheng-Tao Lin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Hellenia speciosa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Evaluación del Aprovechamiento de los Productos Forestales no Maderables en Tres Recintos de la Parroquia Campozano, Cantón Paján, Manabí, Ecuador
Roger Steven Valdivieso Rezabala, Maverick Angel Magallan Rodriguez, Mileidy Rachel Alcívar Cobeña, Alejandro Córdova Yánez (2025) · Ciencia Latina Revista Científica Multidisciplinar
Biofilm inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus by silver nanoparticles derived from Hellenia speciosa rhizome extract
Kayeen Vadakkan, J. Hemapriya, Ajit Kumar Ngangbam, Kuppusamy Sathishkumar (2024) · Microbial Pathogenesis
Biofilm suppression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by bio-engineered silver nanoparticles from Hellenia speciosa rhizome extract
Kayeen Vadakkan, Beena Jose, Viji Ouseph Mapranathukaran, Kuppusamy Sathishkumar (2024) · Microbial Pathogenesis
Amnat Charoen Healers in Thailand and Their Medicinal Plants
Auemporn Junsongduang, Surapon Saensouk, Henrik Balslev (2025) · Plants
Ethnobotanical Study and Phytochemical Screening of Selected Medicinal Plants in Agusan del Sur
Michael Jay O Mesa, Helen B Pondevida (2022) · American Journal of Bioscience and Bioinformatics
Exploration of antidiabetic and antioxidant properties of fresh and freeze-dried Hellenia speciosa, Coccinia grandis and Gymnema sylvestre leaves
Maheshika Peries, Seneveratne Navartne, Kanchana Abeysekara, Ranil Coorey (2023) · Journal of Herbal Medicine
Detection of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) infection in Weeds Associated with Banana Plantation in Caraga Region
Elizabeth P. Parac, Apple Jean R. Medrano, Jezmeir Rey C. Porras (2024) · IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
Pollination ecology of an important medicinal plant Hellenia speciosa (J.Koenig) S.R.Dutta of Asiatic tropics
Arabinda Samanta, Bubai Bera, Prakash Karmakar (2023) · Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 78 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.