Zingiber ultralimitale, a new species from Sulawesi 
193 
Table 3. Continued. 
No 
Species 
Distribution/Section 
GenBank Acc. 
No. (ITS) 
38 
Z. zerumbet (L.) Roscoe ex Sm. 
Cultivated/Zingiber 
KC582863 
39 
Z. zerumbet 
Cultivated/Zingiber 
DQ064584 
40 
Z. ultralimitale Ardiyani & 
A.D.Poulsen 
Sulawesi/Zingiber 
KU891639 
41 
Z. ultralimitale 
Kaempferia (outgroup) 
Sulawesi/Zingiber 
KU891639 
42 
Kaempferia elegans (Wall.) Baker 
China, Indochina, Malesia 
AY424764 
43 
K. parviflora Wall, ex Baker 
India, Indochina 
DQ064592 
engganoense Ardiyani from Enggano Island, Sumatra (Ardiyani, 2015), has a long 
peduncle with tightly imbricate bracts and lateral staminodes free from the labellum. 
Zingiber ultralimitale , by contrast, has loosely imbricate bracts and relatively large 
yellow lateral staminodes which are free from the labellum. Loosely imbricate bracts 
are found in Zingiber sect. Cryptanthium west of Wallace’s Line in Asia. Some species 
of Zingiber sect. Cryptanthium which resemble Z. ultralimitale are Z. nanlingensis Lin 
Chen et al. from China with the same arrangement of inflorescence and yellow flowers 
but staminodes not free from the labellum; Zingiber liangshanense Z. Y.Zhu, also from 
China, with free staminodes but a purple labellum; and Z. chrysanthum Roscoe from 
Nepal with bright red corolla lobes. Zingiber ultralimitale is morphologically distinct 
from the other species in Zingiber sect. Zingiber by having the bract arrangement of 
Zingiber sect. Cryptanthium. 
A phylogenetic analysis of sequence data from the Internal Transcribed Spacer 
(ITS) results in an unresolved backbone in the phylogenetic tree of Zingiber. Zingiber 
ultralimitale is well supported as belonging to Zingiber sect. Zingiber (Lig. 1). 
The pollen grains of Zingiber ultralimitale are spherical with cerebroid 
sculpturing (Lig. 2) which, according to Theilade et al. (1993), is characteristic of 
Zingiber sect. Zingiber. Lurthermore, the molecular results also place Zingiber 
ultralimitale in Zingiber sect. Zingiber (Lig. 1). Taking all the evidence together, 
therefore, we place the species in Zingiber sect. Zingiber. 
Taxonomy 
Zingiber ultralimitale Ardiyani & A.D.Poulsen, sp. nov. 
This species is distinct from all others by the following combination of characters: 
narrow long loose green bracts, bright yellow flowers, and large free yellow lateral 
staminodes.—TYPE: Indonesia, originally collected from South Sulawesi Province, 
Bantimurung NP, along Jalan Poros Maros-Soppeng, and cultivated as RBGE 
20091017*A, flowering material vouchered on 12 June 2013 as Newman, M.F. 2552 
(holotype BO; isotype E). (Fig. 2, 3) 
