Flora of North America species comparison

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Alpinia zerumbet

Alpinia

shellflower, shellplant

alpinia, ginger-lily
Leaf

blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptical, (20–)33–67 × (3–)7.5–11 cm.

Inflorescences

drooping, 15–30 × 6–10 cm;

stalks of cincinni 0.3–3 cm, bracteoles sheathing, white proximally, pink distally.

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

lip yellow with red penciling, perianth and staminodes otherwise white or pink.

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 zerumbet

Alpinia
Phenology Flowering spring–summer (May–Sep).
Habitat Disturbed hammocks and thickets
Elevation 0–30 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Central America; South America; native; Asia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; native; Asia; Oceania [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Alpinia zerumbet is commonly cultivated, but rarely escapes. The illegitimate name Alpinia speciosa (J. C. Wendland) K. Schumann and Hollrung 1887 [(not A. speciosa (Blume) D. Dietrich 1839]) has often been used for this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22, p. 308.
Parent taxa Zingiberaceae > Alpinia Zingiberaceae
Subordinate taxa
A. zerumbet
Synonyms Costus zerumbet, Languas speciosum, Zerumbet speciosum
Name authority (Persoon) B. L. Burtt & R. M. Smith: Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 31: 204. (1972) Roxburgh: Asiatic Researches 11: 350. (1810)
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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