Flora of North America species comparison

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Alpinia

alpinia, ginger-lily
Inflorescences

projecting from tip of pseudostem, lax, paniculate;

bracts of main axis remote [imbricate or not], minute [to 7 cm], scalelike [ovate to lance-oblong or lanceolate];

cincinni stalked, 1–3-flowered;

bracteoles large, conspicuous [small or absent], enclosing cincinni.
Flowers

calyx subcampanulate, shallowly 3-toothed, split down one side [not split];

corolla tube cylindric, lobes oblanceolate to elliptical;

filament linear, plane;

anther enclosed in corolla, not spurred, terminal appendage none;

lateral staminodes absent or very small and connate with lip, lip ovate, tubular-incurved, notched.
Fruits

mostly indehiscent, globose.
Pseudostems

well -developed, 1–3 m.
x

= 11, 12.

Alpinia
Distribution
map from USDA
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; native; Asia; Oceania [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Several species of Alpinia are grown as ornamentals in warm climates. Only A. zerumbet is known to spread outside cultivation, but at least three other species, A. calcarata Roscoe, A. nigra (Gaertner) B. L. Burtt, and A. officinarum Hance, may persist for many years in abandoned gardens in coastal Florida. All three of these species may be distinguished from A. zerumbet by having erect inflorescences, among other characters.

Species ca. 230 (1 in the flora).

Etymology: for Italian botanist Prosper Alpinus (1553–1617)

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Zingiberaceae
Subordinate taxa
A. zerumbet
Name authority Roxburgh: Asiatic Researches 11: 350. (1810)
Source FNA vol. 22, p. 308. Treatment author: Alan T. Whittemore.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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