Etlingera velutina (Ridl.) R.M.Sm. of Sarawak / Borneo – around 500m ASL

Etlingera velutina (Ridl.) R.M.Sm. is a species of ginger (Zingiberaceae) from Borneo; in Plants of the World Online, its natural occurrence is given as northern and north-western Borneo, where it is listed as a rhizomatous geophyte of the humid tropical biome. Nomenclaturally, the name is based on Hornstedtia velutina Ridl., published in 1899 in J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 32: 146; the currently accepted combination Etlingera velutina was published by R.M. Smith in 1986 in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 43(2): 250. The literature cites a specimen from H.N. Ridley from Sarawak (Bongaya River), dated ‘x 1897’, as the type. For Lambir Hills (Sarawak), the species is described as the most common Etlingera in the park. Within the species, two accepted subspecies are listed, including E. velutina subsp. longipedunculata A.D.Poulsen, first published in 2006 (Poulsen, Etlingera of Borneo).

Etymology: The genus name Etlingera goes back to Paul Dietrich Giseke (1792) and honours the German botanist Andreas Ernst Etlinger. The species epithet velutina is botanical Latin and means ‘velvety/short soft hairy’.