Scientists have found more Vietnam’s endemic ginger species at the HonBa Nature Reserve in the central province of Khanh Hoa, according toVietnamNet Bridge.

The Geostachys annamensisginger species, with the Vietnamese name as Dai sa Trung bo, wasdescribed for the first time in 1921, with samples collected in Da Lat,the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong by Henry Nicholas Ridley andCecil Boden Kloss (1877-1949) during a survey in the Lang Biang Plateauin 1918.

Then this species was identified by Ridley, ascientist from the British Museum. This species was lastrecorded in 1980. So far, there are 10 samples stored in Hanoi, theBritish Museum and Paris. All of the samples were derived fromLam Dong province.

In 2010, the Institute of TropicalBiology of Vietnam and the Praha Botanical Garden of the CzechRepublic discovered a single Geostachys tree that fruited in the HonBa Nature Reserve but they could not confirm the name due to the lack offlowers.

Then, their flowers were found in the mostrecent trip of scientists at the Institute of Tropical Biology inlate April this year.

A scientist of the Instituteof Tropical Biology, Truong Ba Vuong, sent samples to JanaSkornickova of the Singapore Botanic Gardens for identification. Thetest result shows that this species is Geostachys annamensis, whichdistributes in altitude of over 1,000 m in cold misty weather.

"It proves that the Geostachys species has distribution area extendedto the province of Khanh Hoa . It is predicted that in the future,this ginger species can also be found in the central province ofNinh Thuan. The flowering specimen is stored at the Institute ofTropical Biology," said Vuong.-VNA