''Alpinia zerumbet'', commonly known as shell ginger among other names, is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

native to

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. The plants can grow up to tall and bear colorful funnel-shaped flowers. They are grown as ornamentals and their leaves are used in cuisine and traditional medicine.

Names

''Alpinia zerumbet'' is called a "shell ginger" or "shell flower" most commonly, because its individual pink flowers, especially when in bud, resemble sea shells. Other common names in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

include "pink porcelain lily", "variegated ginger, "butterfly ginger", and "light galangal". In Japan, ''A. zerumbet'' is called ''gettō'' () in standard

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. In the languages of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, it is known as ''sannin'' () on Okinawa, ''shanin'' () on

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airp ...

in the Ōsumi Islands, ''sa'nen'' () on Amami Ōshima, ''sani'' () on Okinoerabujima, ''samin'' () on Miyako-jima, ''samin'' (), ''sa'nin'' () and ''sami'' () on Ishigaki Island, ''sami'' () on Taketomi Island and ''sa'nin'' () on Iriomote Island. It is known as ''souka'' () on

Chichijima is the largest and most populous islands of Japan, island in the Japanese archipelago of Bonin Islands, Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about north of Iwo Jima. in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to ...

in the Bonin Islands and ''sōka'' () in the

Daitō Islands The are an archipelago consisting of three isolated coral islands, administered by Japan, in the Philippine Sea southeast of Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa. The islands have a total area of and a population of 2,107. Administratively, the whole gr ...

east of the Ryukyus. In Taiwan, ''A. zerumbet'' is called ''yuètáo'' () in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, ''hó͘-chú-hoe'' () or ''ge̍h-thô''/''go̍eh-thô'' () in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

''kiéu-kiông'' () or ''ngie̍t-thò'' () in

Siyen Hakka , pronunciation = , states = Taiwan , region = Miaoli County; Taoyuan; Kaohsiung; Pingtung County; Huatung Valley , latd = , latm = , latNS = , longd = , longm = , longEW = , ethnicity = Taiwanese Hakka , speakers = , date = , ...

. In the island's aboriginal languages, it is known as ''silu'' in Bunun, ''jiaboe'' and ''garyo'' in Paiwan, ''bussiyan'', ''bissiyan'' and ''bassiyan'' in

Atayal Atayal may refer to: * Atayal people, of Taiwan * Atayal language The Atayal language is an Austronesian language spoken by the Atayal people of Taiwan. Squliq and C’uli’ (Ts’ole’) are two major dialects. Mayrinax and Pa’kuali’, two ...

and ''lalengac'' in

Sakizaya Sakizaya may refer to: * Sakizaya language, a Formosan language * Sakizaya people The Sakizaya (native name: Sakuzaya, literally "real man"; ; occasionally Sakiraya or Sakidaya) are Taiwanese indigenous peoples with a population of approximately ...

. In China, it is called ''yànshānjiāng'' (), as well as ''yùtáo'' (), ''cǎoběn zhíwù'' () and ''dà húluóbo'' () among other names.

Characteristics

Native to eastern Asia, ''Alpinia zerumbet'' is a rhizomatous, evergreen tropical perennial that grows in upright clumps tall in tropical climates. It bears funnel-formed flowers. Flowers have white or pink

perianths The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals w ...

with yellow labella with red spots and stripes. There are three

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s, but only one has

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

. There is one

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

. The fruit is globose with many striations. In more typical conditions, it reaches feet tall in the green house, and feet tall, as a house plant. It was originally called ''Alpinia speciosa'', which was also the scientific name of torch ginger. To avoid the confusion, it was renamed ''A. zerumbet'' while torch ginger was reclassified in the genus ''Etlingera''. No species is accepted as ''A. speciosa'' today. Alpinia zerumbet2

Cultivation

''Alpinia zerumbet'' is best grown in rich medium-wet, to wet well drained soils in full sun to part shade. Afternoon shade in hot summer climates, is recommended. Indoors, the plant must have bright light and humid conditions. Flowering rarely occurs before the second year.

Uses

The long leaf blades of ''A. zerumbet'' are used for wrapping ''

zongzi ''Zongzi'' () or simply ''zong'' () is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with a range of fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Fillings can be either sweet, such as red bean paste, or savory, such as pork belly or ...

'', a traditional Chinese dish made of rice stuffed with different fillings. In Okinawa, Japan, its leaves are sold for making an herbal tea and are also used to flavor noodles and wrap ''

muchi , also known as , is a type of soft confectionery made of pounded glutinous rice and eaten in Okinawa Prefecture. Muchi means "rice cake" in the Okinawan language, sometimes called "Casa Muchi" from the fact that it is wrapped in the leaves of ...

'' rice cakes. The plant's dried fruits are treated as one of the numerous medicinal spice ingredients in a

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

hot pot Hot pot ( zh, c=, s=wikt:火锅, 火锅, t=wikt:火鍋, 火鍋, p=huǒguō, l=fire pot, first=t) or hotpot, also known as steamboat, is a dish (food), dish of soup/stock (food), stock kept simmering in a cooking pot, pot by a heat source on ...

soup base under the name ''shārén'' () in Sichuan Mandarin Chinese. Statistically, Okinawan natives who consume a

traditional diet In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). Although humans are ...

that includes ''A. zerumbet'' have a very long life expectancy. Recent research has investigated its effects on human

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

and the

phytochemicals Phytochemicals are naturally-occurring chemicals present in or extract, extracted from plants. Some phytochemicals are nutrients for the plant, while others are metabolites produced to enhance plant survivability and reproduction. The field ...

that may be responsible. ''A. zerumbet'' contains many

kavalactones Kavalactones are a class of lactone compounds found in kava roots and '' Alpinia zerumbet'' (shell ginger) and in several Gymnopilus, Phellinus and Inonotus fungi. Some kavalactones are bioactive. They are responsible for the psychoactive, analg ...

structurally related to the compounds in

kava Kava or kava kava (''Piper methysticum'': Latin 'pepper' and Latinized Ancient Greek, Greek 'intoxicating') is a plant in the Piperaceae, pepper family, native to the Pacific Islands. The name ''kava'' is from Tongan language, Tongan and Marqu ...

(''Piper methysticum'') and may help prevent high glucose induced cell damage.

Gallery

File:Shell Ginger Alpinia zerumbet 7395.JPG, Flowers of ''Alpinia zerumbet'', the shell ginger File:Alpinia zerumbet variegata.jpg, ''Alpinia zerumbet variegata'', cultivated for ornamental use File:豔山姜花序總苞 20190508131956.jpg, ''A. zerumbet'' inflorescence protected by two bracts before flower bloom File:Shell ginger Alpinia zerumbet.jpg, A closeup of the ''A. zerumbet'' flower with its shell shape

References

External links

Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) Burtt. et Smith
Medicinal Plant Images Database (School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University) {{Taxonbar, from=Q2703227 zerumbet Taxa named by Rosemary Margaret Smith