ISSN 2226-3063 e-ISSN 2227-9555 Modern Phytomorphology 13: 5–8, 2019 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20190102 © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Andriy Novikov, State Natural History Museum NAS of Ukraine on behalf of Modern Phytomorphology. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by‑nc‑nd/4.0/) freely available on https://phytomorphology.org/. New record of Plagiostachys albiflora Ridl. (Zingiberaceae) in the Philippines Florfe M. Acma 1,2* , Noe P. Mendez 1,2 , Noel E. Lagunday 1,2 , Victor B. Amoroso 1,2 1 Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Central Mindanao University, University Town, Musuan, 8710 Bukidnon, Philippines 2 Center for Biodiversity Research and Extension in Mindanao (CEBREM), Central Mindanao University, University Town, Musuan, 8710 Bukidnon, Philippines; * flmacma@gmail.com Received: 05.12.2018 | Accepted: 26.12.2018 | Published: 04.01.2019 Introduction Zingiberaceae consists of herbaceous perennial plants that grow well in humid tropical and subtropical areas and mostly distributed in Southeast Asia (Larsen & Larsen 2006) with 1,500 species in 53 genera (Kress et al. 2002; Lamb et al. 2013). A new classification of Zingiberaceae, which was based on morphological characters and molecular phylogeny by Kress et al. (2002) comprises 4 subfamilies and 6 tribes viz., Siphonochiloideae (Siphonochileae), Tamijioideae (Tamijieae), Alpinioideae (Alpinieae, Riedelieae), and Zingiberoideae (Zingibereae, Globbeae). The genus Plagiostachys is characterized by its spike inflorescence which penetrates laterally from the leafy shoot (Julius et al. 2010). This genus is poorly known due to early disintegration of the inflorescence of many species into a mucilaginous mass which makes studies of herbarium specimens’ difficult (Larsen et al. 1999). Members of the genus are distributed in the Malesian region with the center of diversity in Borneo with 15 species (Julius et al. 2008; Lamb et al. 2013). In the Philippines, there are seven known species in this genus and all are endemic to the country (Pelser et al. 2011). Aside from the protologues (Ridley 1909; Elmer 1915), few studies had been done on this genus worldwide (Smith 1985; Cowley 1999; Sakai & Nagamasu 2003; Gobilik et al. 2005; Julius et al. 2008) and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no recent studies on Plagiostachys were conducted in the Philippines. Recent botanical expedition in May 2018 documented six populations of Plagiostachys albiflora Ridl. from Mt. Malambo, Brgy. Datu Salumay, Marilog District, Davao City, Philippines. P. albiflora has glabrous capsules with mucilaginous inflorescence, which places this species under the subclade B among the three subclades of Plagiostachys in the molecular analysis of Julius et al. (2008). The species is a new addition to the ginger SHORT COMMUNICATION Abstract A Philippine specimen of Plagiostachys albifora Ridl. (Zingiberaceae) which was previously recorded only from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo was recently discovered in Mt. Malambo, Brgy. Datu Salumay, Marilog District, Davao City, Philippines. The specimen, described herein, constitutes the frst record of the said species in the Philippines. Further, P. albifora is the only non‑endemic species among the Philippine Plagiostachys and is an addition to the seven known endemic species in the country. Existing populations of the species are rare and under severe threats due to anthropogenic activities and therefore call for immediate conservation initiatives. Keywords: Alpinioideae, ginger fora, new distribution locality, Mt. Malambo, Davao