Ban Xia/Pinellia (Pinellia ternata) - Tubers

Are you looking for a small, fascinating rarity for your shade garden or balcony? The *Pinellia ternata* is a true botanical curiosity. With its unusual flower shape and its ingenious method of self-propagation, it is a real eye-catcher – and it is also absolutely low-maintenance and even hardy!

Scope of delivery: 3 bulbils each (approx. 0.5-1 cm)

Growth & Appearance

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

• Height: Remains beautifully compact at about 15 to 30 cm.

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

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

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

Ingredients (IMPORTANT WARNING) Like almost all aroids, the plant contains sharp calcium oxalate crystals in all its parts (especially in the tuber). In its raw state, the plant is poisonous and strongly irritates the mucous membranes. Consumption or medical self-treatment is strictly forbidden!

Usage

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

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

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

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

Location, care & other important things

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

• Soil: Humus-rich, loose, and well-draining (waterlogging will cause the tuber to rot).

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

• Cultivation in a container is very easy.

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