Yellow Ginger-Lilly helping on the plastic free journey!

Hello everyone!

Following the subject of the invasive species video, today we are talking a little bit about one of the invasive species of the azores – the Yellow Ginger-Lilly (Hedychium gardnerianum).

The Yellow Ginger-Lilly it’s a species native to the Himalyas, Buthan and Nepal. If you visit the Azores you will find a lot of this herbaceous plant on the roads and in the middle of somo trails. The bad thing about this plant here in the Azores is that the behaviour that they have, as an invasive, prevents the growth of the endemics, that are very important for other species!

 

Yellow Ginger-Lilly (Hedychium gardnerianum)

 

In 2013, the University of the Azores came up with the idea to use the Hedychium gardnerianum as a way of fighting the plastic use! How ? You ask…

The fibers of Yellow Ginger-Lilly have a high concentration of fibers and in terms of termic resistance, they can keep their properties as the temperature increses which can be used for the development of sustainable and biodegradable products and by this control the growth of this invasive!

 

 

 

Vanessa Costa

About Vanessa Costa

Vanessa is Marine Biologist and Marine Wildlife Guide and is responsible for Environmental Conservation at TERRA AZUL. She enjoys being out in the ocean with Wildlife accompanying visitors and collecting field imagery and data for local Cetaceans and Sea Turtles Research & Conservation projects.

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