Shell ginger

Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm.

Zingiberaceae

This ginger (Zingiberaceae), native to East Asia, is cultivated as an ornamental as well as for medicinal and food use. The genus Alpinia pays homage to the Milanese physician and naturalist Prospero Alpini (1553-1617), a scholar of exotic plants. The epithet zerumbet derives from its Persian vernacular name zarambãd.

These plants grow vigorously from a rhizome, forming masses of exuberant flowering in fragrant clusters, which have made them very popular in temperate parks and gardens.