Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Zingiber zerumbet

bitter ginger
Leaf

blades oblanceolate or narrowly elliptical, 30–32 × 6–7 cm (smaller distally).
Inflorescences

erect, 7–11 × [3–]5–6 cm;

bracts of main axis green when young, becoming red;

proximal bracts reniform or very broadly ovate, concave, 2–3 × 3–4 cm, apex broadly rounded;

distal bracts smaller but otherwise similar to proximal bracts, ca. 1 × 2 cm.
Flowers

perianth and staminodes pale yellow.

Zingiber zerumbet
Phenology Flowering fall (Oct).
Habitat Disturbed areas
Elevation 50 m (200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; native; Asia (India and the Malay Peninsula) [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In Asia, the rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet are used as a spice in much the same way as those of Z. officinale. In North America, escaped populations are known only from two sites in Gainesville, Florida.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Zingiberaceae > Zingiber
Synonyms Amomum zerumbet
Name authority (Linnaeus) Smith: Exotic Botany 2: 105. (1806)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers