Alpinia hainanensis Hayata (family Zingiberaceae) is a medicinal plant with high potential for understory cultivation, but the variations in growth, morphological status, physiological conditions, nutrient absorption and phytochemical contents between different understory provenances originating from southern China remain poorly understood. In this study, different growth, physiological and phytochemical indices of three provenances Hainan (HN) and Bobai (BB)/Baise (BS) from Guangxi were determined, in order to better evaluate their introduction potentials. The results showed that two Guangxi provenances (BB and BS) showed superior aboveground growth and biomass accumulation compared to the HN provenance, yet most the leaf functional traits and medicinal qualities of some organs were similar. Sprout and leaf growth were consistent, and a negative correlation was observed between leaf nitrogen and flavonoid content. Based on principal component analysis (PCA), BB performed better than two other provenances in growth and phytochemical aspects. Due to the limited number of collections of provenances and absence of microclimate data, these findings should be considered preliminary. This study provides a basis for provenances selection and understory cultivation in A. hainanensis in (sub)tropical regions.
Liang et al. (2026) studied this question.