Common name: Butterfly Ginger Lily, White Ginger Lily, Dolan champa दोलन चम्पा (Hindi), Takhellei angouba (Manipuri), Sontaka or Sontakka सोनटका or सोनटक्का (Marathi), Suruli Sugandhi (Kannada)

Botanical name: Hedychium coronarium - [ (hed-EE-kee-um) or (hee-DICK-ee-um) sweet (sugar) snow; (kor-oh-NAR-ee-um) crown, wreath or garland ] Family: Zingiberaceae (ginger family) - [ (zing-ee-ber-ah-see-ay) From a Sanskrit word zingi-ee-ber meaning shaped like a horn; the ginger family ]

Origin: India, Indonesia

Butterfly ginger lily is native to India. It is a robust, attractive plant that will reach 6 feet in containers. Leaves are lance-shaped and sharp-pointed, 8-24 in long and 2-5 in wide and arranged in 2 neat ranks that run the length of the stem. From midsummer through autumn the stalks are topped with 6-12 in long clusters of wonderfully fragrant white flowers that look like butterflies. The flowers eventually give way to showy seed pods chock full of bright red seeds.

Butterfly ginger lily (takhellei) is used in Manipur to prepare what is known as nachom with Acacia farnesiana (chingonglei). Two or three flowers of the chingonglei is inserted inside the lily and the combination of the two flowers is regarded as divine. This ornamental flower combination is usually worn behind the ear by womenfolk. The plants are very robust and quickly grow out of the containers. They need to be divided yearly. Remove old stems after flowers have faded to promote new growth.

Courtesy: - Flowers of India - Top Tropicals - Dave's Garden