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Etlingera elatior
Also called Philippine Waxflower, Porcelain Rose, Siam Rose, Torch Lily
In Singapore: Torch Ginger, Philippine Waxflower, Painted Net Leaf, Nerve Plant, Bunga Kantan, 玫瑰姜, 火炬姜, 瓷玫瑰, Red Torch Ginger, Wax Flower, White Torch Ginger (Grown in Singapore)
Torch-ginger is a tall, showy perennial from the ginger family, native to Southeast Asia, grown for its pink flower heads and widely used in Southeast Asian cooking. It needs warm, humid, frost-free conditions and rich, moist soil to thrive.
Etlingera elatior (also known as torch ginger, among other names) is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the family Zingiberaceae, native to the Malay Peninsular, the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea of the Malesia bioregion.
The showy pink flowers are used in decorative arrangements and are an important ingredient in food across Southeast Asia.
The flower buds are edible. In North Sumatra (especially among the Karo people), the flower buds are used in a stewed fish dish called Arsik ikan mas (Andaliman-spiced carp). In Bali, people use the white part of the bottom part of the trunk for cooking chilli sauce called "Sambal Bongkot", and use the flower buds to make chilli sauce called "Sambal Kecicang".
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Etlingera elatior by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
