Ban Xia/Pinellia (Pinellia ternata)

Are you looking for a small, fascinating rarity for your shade garden or balcony? The crowdipper (Pinellia ternata) is a true botanical curiosity. With its unusual flower shape and ingenious way of propagating itself, it attracts everyone's attention – all while being absolutely low-maintenance and even hardy!

Each 7cm pot contains several young tubers. Currently still in winter dormancy.

Growth & Appearance

• Lifespan: Perennial, tuber-forming, and hardy herbaceous plant.

• Growth height: Remains nice and compact at about 15 to 30 cm.

• Habit: Delicate growth. The fresh green leaves are characteristically divided into three parts (hence the name "ternata").

• Flowering: From May to July, it displays the typical flower of the Arum family: a green bract (the spathe) enclosing a spadix. The absolute highlight is the delicate, whip-like appendage of the spadix, which protrudes from the flower like a fine thread!

Origin Its original home is in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea). There, it prefers to grow at forest edges, in thickets, and on meadows.

Ingredients (IMPORTANT WARNING) Like almost all plants in the Arum family, the plant contains sharp calcium oxalate crystals in all parts (especially in the tuber). In its raw state, the plant is toxic and strongly irritates mucous membranes. Consumption or self-medication is absolutely taboo!

Usage

• In the garden: A fantastic and rare ornamental plant for shady flower beds, woodland edges, or for container gardening. Perfect for collectors of exotic aroids.

• In medicine (TCM): In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tuber is one of the most important medicinal plants, known as "Ban Xia". There, it is elaborately pre-treated with ginger and alum to neutralize its toxicity and is then used as a powerful remedy for nausea, coughs, and phlegm.

Historical The Chinese name "Ban Xia" translates to "Half Summer" or "Mid-Summer". It refers to the fact that, in its Asian homeland, the tubers are traditionally harvested exactly in the middle of summer (around the summer solstice) because they possess the highest concentration of active ingredients at that time.

Curiosities (The plant that clones itself!) The Pinellia has developed a brilliant survival trick: it forms tiny, spherical bulbils on the leaf stalks (often exactly where the three leaflets divide). As soon as the leaf wilts in autumn and sinks to the ground, completely new, independent plants grow from these tiny bulbs the following spring.

Location, Care & other important things

• Location: Partial shade to shade. No direct midday sun.

• Soil: Humus-rich, loose, and well-drained (waterlogging causes the tuber to rot).

• Care & Overwintering: Completely undemanding. In autumn, the plant pulls its leaves in completely and hibernates invisibly in the ground as a tuber. It is quite hardy in our latitudes. Tip: Mark the spot in the bed so you don't accidentally dig up the small tuber during autumn garden work!

• Care in a container is very easy.

Click here for the red-flowering Pinellia ternata `Atropurpurea`...