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Zingiberaceae

 
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Zingiberaceae
 
 
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Zingiberaceae, or the Ginger family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of aromatic perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 herb
Herb

A herb is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like....
s with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizome
Rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal plant stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes....
s, comprising ca. 52 genera and more than 1300 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Many species are important ornamental plants, spice
Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetable used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth....
s, or medicinal plants.






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Zingiber Beehive
Zingiberaceae, or the Ginger family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of aromatic perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 herb
Herb

A herb is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like....
s with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizome
Rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal plant stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes....
s, comprising ca. 52 genera and more than 1300 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Many species are important ornamental plants, spice
Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetable used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth....
s, or medicinal plants. Ornamental genera include the shell gingers (Alpinia
Alpinia

Alpinia is a genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the Ginger family .DNA sequence-based methods have shown that this genus is polyphyletic....
), Siam or summer tulip (Curcuma alismatifolia), Globba, ginger lily (Hedychium
Hedychium

Hedychium is a genus of perennial plants native to tropical Asia and the Himalayas, commonly growing to between 120 and 180 cm tall. Common names include garland flower, ginger lily, and kahili ginger....
), Kaempferia, torch-ginger Nicolaia, Renealmia
Renealmia

Renealmia is a plant genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Species include:* Renealmia alpinia* Renealmia aurantifera* ''Renealmia cernua...
, and ginger (Zingiber
Zingiber

The genus Zingiber contains the true gingers, a set of plants with medicinal and culinary value in many parts of the world. The most well-known is Ginger, garden ginger....
). Spices include ginger
Ginger

Ginger is a spice which is used for cooking and is also consumed whole as a delicacy or medicine. It is the rhizome of the Zingiber, Zingiber officinale....
 (Zingiber
Zingiber

The genus Zingiber contains the true gingers, a set of plants with medicinal and culinary value in many parts of the world. The most well-known is Ginger, garden ginger....
), galangal
Galangal

The Galangal plant is a rhizome with culinary and medicinal uses . It used in various oriental cuisines . Though it resembles the ginger root that it is related to, there is little similarity in taste....
 or Thai ginger (Alpinia galanga
Alpinia galanga

Alpinia galanga, a plant in the Zingiberaceae, is an herb used in cooking, especially in Cuisine of Indonesia and Cuisine of Thailand. It is one of four plants known as galangal, and is differentiated from the others with the common name greater galangal....
 and others), melegueta pepper (Aframomum melegueta
Aframomum melegueta

Aframomum melegueta is a species in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. The West African spice commonly known as Grains of paradise, Melegueta pepper, alligator pepper, Guinea grains or Guinea pepper is obtained from this plant; it gives a pungent, black pepper flavor....
), myoga
Myoga

Myoga or myoga ginger is an herbaceous, deciduous, Perennial plant native to Japan that is grown for its edible flower buds and flavorful shoots....
 (Zingiber mioga), turmeric
Turmeric

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20? C and 30? C, and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive....
 (Curcuma
Curcuma

Curcuma is a genus of about 80 accepted species in the plant family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam Tulip. The name comes from Arabic kurkummeaning "turmeric", but saffron is not in the same order....
), cardamom
Cardamom

The name cardamom is used for herbs within two genera of the ginger family Zingiberaceae, namely Elettaria and Amomum. Both varieties take the form of a small seedpod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds....
 (Amomum
Amomum

Amomum is a genus of plant, including several types of Cardamom--especially Black cardamom--in the order Zingiberales. Plants of this genus are remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties....
, Elettaria
Elettaria

Elettaria is a genus of one or two species of cardamoms, native to southeastern Asia from India south to Sri Lanka and east to Malaysia and western Indonesia, where it grows in tropical rainforests....
).

Characteristics

Members of the family are small to large herbaceous plants with distichous leaves with basal sheaths that overlap to form a pseudostem. The plants are either self-supporting or epiphytic
Epiphyte

File:Cadzow oak epiphyte 2.JPGAn epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant. Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunki?r plant life-form....
. Flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are hermaphroditic
Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs. In many species, hermaphroditism is a common part of the life-cycle, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which partners are not separated into distinct male and female types of individual....
, usually strongly zygomorphic, in determinate
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
 cymose inflorescences, and subtended by conspicuous, spirally arranged bracts. The perianth is comprised of two whorls, a fused tubular calyx, and a tubular corolla with one lobe larger than the other two. Flowers typically have two of their stamenoids (sterile stamen
Stamen

The stamen is the male organ of a flower. Each stamen generally has a stalk called the filament , and, on top of the filament, an anther , and pollen sacs, called sporangium....
s) fused to form a petaloid lip, and have only one fertile stamen. The ovary is inferior and topped by two nectaries, the stigma is funnel-shaped.

Some genera yield essential oil
Essential oil

An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. They are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant material from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove....
s used in the perfume industry (Alpinia
Alpinia

Alpinia is a genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the Ginger family .DNA sequence-based methods have shown that this genus is polyphyletic....
, Hedychium
Hedychium

Hedychium is a genus of perennial plants native to tropical Asia and the Himalayas, commonly growing to between 120 and 180 cm tall. Common names include garland flower, ginger lily, and kahili ginger....
).

Distribution

The Zingiberaceae has a pantropical distribution--found in the tropics of Africa, Asia and the Americas--with its greatest diversity in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
.

Taxonomy

Globba Flowers
*Subfamily Siphonochiloideae
    • Tribe Siphonochileae
      • Siphonochilus
  • Subfamily Tamijioideae
    • Tribe Tamijieae
      • Tamijia
  • Subfamily Alpinioideae
    • Tribe Alpinieae
      • Aframomum - Grains of Paradise
      • Alpinia
        Alpinia

        Alpinia is a genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the Ginger family .DNA sequence-based methods have shown that this genus is polyphyletic....
         - Galangal
      • Amomum
        Amomum

        Amomum is a genus of plant, including several types of Cardamom--especially Black cardamom--in the order Zingiberales. Plants of this genus are remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties....
      • Aulotandra
      • Cyphostigma
      • Elettaria
        Elettaria

        Elettaria is a genus of one or two species of cardamoms, native to southeastern Asia from India south to Sri Lanka and east to Malaysia and western Indonesia, where it grows in tropical rainforests....
         - Cardamom
      • Elettariopsis
      • Etlingera
        Etlingera

        Etlingera is a genus of Indo-Pacific terrestrial and perennial herbs in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae consisting of more than 100 different species found, mostly, near the equator....
      • Geocharis
      • Geostachys
      • Hornstedtia
      • Leptosolena
      • Paramomum
      • Plagiostachys
      • Renealmia
        Renealmia

        Renealmia is a plant genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Species include:* Renealmia alpinia*         Renealmia aurantifera* ''Renealmia cernua...
      • Siliquamomum (Incertae Sedis)
      • Vanoverberghia
    • Tribe Riedelieae
      • Burbidgea
      • Pleuranthodium
      • Riedelia
        Riedelia

        Riedelia is a genus of alga known from the fossil record, comprising six species....
      • Siamanthus
  • Subfamily Zingiberoideae
    • Tribe Zingibereae
      • Boesenbergia
      • Camptandra
      • Caulokaempferia (Incertae Sedis)
      • Cautleya
      • Cornukaempferia
      • Curcuma
        Curcuma

        Curcuma is a genus of about 80 accepted species in the plant family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam Tulip. The name comes from Arabic kurkummeaning "turmeric", but saffron is not in the same order....
         - Turmeric
      • Curcumorpha
      • Distichochlamys
      • Haniffia
      • Haplochorema
      • Hedychium
        Hedychium

        Hedychium is a genus of perennial plants native to tropical Asia and the Himalayas, commonly growing to between 120 and 180 cm tall. Common names include garland flower, ginger lily, and kahili ginger....
      • Hitchenia
      • Kaempferia
      • Laosanthus
      • Nanochilus
      • Paracautleya
      • Parakaempferia
      • Pommereschea
      • Pyrgophyllum
      • Rhynchanthus
      • Roscoea
        Roscoea

        Roscoea is a genus of perennial plants of the family Zingiberaceae. They are native to China and Himalayas and related to a ginger plant....
      • Scaphochlamys
      • Smithatris
        Smithatris

        Smithatris is a new genus of the ginger family . The first species of this genus, Smithatris supraneeana, was discovered in 1998 by Kress and Larsen, two researchers from Denmark, in the limestone hills of Saraburi,Thailand....
      • Stadiochilus
      • Stahlianthus
      • Zingiber
        Zingiber

        The genus Zingiber contains the true gingers, a set of plants with medicinal and culinary value in many parts of the world. The most well-known is Ginger, garden ginger....
         - Ginger
    • Tribe Globbeae
      • Gagnepainia
      • Globba
      • Hemiorchis


Intergeneric hybrid

  • ×Alpingera F. Luc-Cayol (Alpinia
    Alpinia

    Alpinia is a genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the Ginger family .DNA sequence-based methods have shown that this genus is polyphyletic....
     × Etlingera
    Etlingera

    Etlingera is a genus of Indo-Pacific terrestrial and perennial herbs in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae consisting of more than 100 different species found, mostly, near the equator....
    .)