Roscoea capitata is a perennial herbaceous plant native to the Himalayas, being found in Nepal. Most members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), to which it belongs, are tropical, but R. capitata, like other species of Roscoea, grows in much colder mountainous regions. Description Roscoea capitata is a perennial herbaceous plant. Like all members of the genus Roscoea, it dies back each year to a short vertical rhizome, to which are attached the tuberous roots. When growth begins again, "pseudostems" are produced: structures which resemble stems but are actually formed from the tightly wrapped bases (sheaths) of its leaves. R. capitata grows to 30–50 cm tall. The leaf blades are relatively long and narrow, 15–25 cm long by 1–3 cm wide, with a marked "keel" (i.e. they are folded along a central rib). In its native habitats, R. capitata flowers between July and August. The flower spike has green bracts some 4–4.5 cm long by 1 cm wide which form a distinctive dense green "head", on a stem (peduncle) 5–10 cm in length. Flowers then appear in succession from between the bracts. In the Flora of China, they are described as "blue"; elsewhere they are described as pink to purple. Each flower has the typical structure for Roscoea (see the diagrams in that article). There is a tube-shaped outer calyx, some 2.5 cm long, which is hairy (pubescent), particularly along the veins, and is split on one side with two teeth at the end. Next the three petals (the corolla) form a tube which is shorter than the calyx and terminates in three lobes, a more-or-less oblong upright central lobe, about 2 cm long, which is hooded, and two side lobes, longer than the central lobe. Inside the petals are structures formed from four sterile stamens (staminodes): two lateral staminodes form what appear to be petals, about 2 cm long; two central staminodes are fused to form a lip or labellum, about 2.5 cm by 1.4 cm, which is divided at the end into two lobes. The single functional stamen has an anther about 5 mm long, with about 1 cm long spurs formed from the connective tissue between the two capsules of the anther. The ovary is pink and forms a capsule about 2.5 cm long after flowering when seeds are formed. Taxonomy Roscoea capitata was first described scientifically in 1822 by the English botanist James Edward Smith, who had