''Alpinia'' is a
genus of
flowering plants in the ginger family,
Zingiberaceae. It is named for
Prospero Alpini
Prospero Alpini (also known as Prosper Alpinus, Prospero Alpinio and Latinized as Prosperus Alpinus) (23 November 15536 February 1617) was a Venetian physician and botanist. He travelled around Egypt and served as the fourth prefect in charge of ...
, a 17th-century Italian botanist who specialized in exotic plants.
Species are native to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, where they occur in
tropical and
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
climates.
[''Alpinia''.]
Flora of China. Several species are cultivated as
ornamental plants.
[''Alpinia''.]
Flora of North America. Species of the genus are known generally as shell ginger.
[
]
Description
These herbs lack true stems, but have pseudostems usually up to about long which are composed of the overlapping leaf sheaths.[ A few species have been known to reach .][Kress, W. J., et al. (2005)]
"The molecular phylogeny of ''Alpinia'' (Zingiberaceae): a complex and polyphyletic genus of gingers".
''American Journal of Botany'' 92(1), 167-78. They grow from thick rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
s. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong. The inflorescence takes the form of a spike, a panicle
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
, or a