Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' cf. Hedychium x raffillii         Back to 'Tara'         Back to  Hedychium x raffillii      

It is possible to confuse the rare H. x raffillii with the much better known H. coccineum 'Tara', the colouration of the plant and the flowers is very similar.  Compared to H. coccineum 'Tara', H. x raffillii is more robust in foliage, the inflorescence spikes are taller and narrower and the individual flowers smaller.  The overall effect of the flower colour is more red in H. x raffillii compared to H. coccineum 'Tara'.   However, these differences can only be seen when comparing two plants side by side which is rarely possible.  When encountering a single plant look closely at the individual flowers.  The cleft at the tip of the labellum is rather wide in H. x raffillii and narrow in Hedychium coccineum 'Tara'.  The labellum or lip of the flower of H. x raffillii is rather uniform in colour darkening at the base rather than changing colour.  In comparison, the labellum of H. coccineum 'Tara' changes colour from orange to red at the base.

Contrasting 'Tara' and H. x raffillii, we are grateful to Tony Schilling for reminding us to stress that 'Tara' is fully hardy but H. x raffillii only marginally so.

LEFT Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' RIGHT Hedychium x raffillii	LEFT Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' RIGHT Hedychium x raffillii
The 'Tara' inflorescence on the left of the picture below is a very small, late season inflorescence.  This photograph shows the colour difference between H. x raffillii and 'Tara' but is not representative of the differences between the inflorescences.	The style is visible on the 'Tara' flower on the left giving a "bow string effect".  Normally the style is hidden in a groove in the filament with the stigma just projecting above and between the thecae (sacs) of the anther.

   

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