This flower was photographed in Belize last month. Can anyone identify it for me? I need the common name and the Latin name, please. It grew on a fairly large plant, but since the plant was among lots of other plants, I couldn't get a good image of just its plant. The individual flowers were on a stalk that grew out either horizontally or vertically, with about 10-15 flowers per stalk. They are white with pink tips. When opened, the inside is brilliant red and yellow.
Absolutely Alpinia zerumbet from the Ecuadorian tropics; the Spanish common name is Jengibre de Concha. All parts of the plant are edible, particularly those pretty flowers which are quite nice in salads. It was featured in 2007 as a Botany Photo of the Day. (My own photo, no less!)
Re: Need name of this flower/plant = Alpinia zerumbet Here, A photo taken when I was in Peru 3 years ago. We were at 800 meters/2,400 feet over sea level, and 30 Km/18,8 miles from the coastline. The herb was some 3-4m/9-12ft tall and the inflorescence some 0.4 m/1.2 ft lenght. In this photo you will see the entire inflorescence shape, which will complete the images posted on this thread. Enjoy! Photo was taken with a Sony Alpha DSLR Camera using a 4.5-5.6/75-300 Sony lenses, 1.5m/4.9ft MACRO. https://twitter.com/MaximoDalmau/status/267528871530868736
