Zingiberaceae
The Zingiberaceae are perennial herbs mostly
with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes comprising about 47 genera and 1,000
species. The leaves are alternate and distichous, the base sheathing and the blade mostly
linear to elliptic with penni-parallel, strongly ascending veins. The flowers are
bisexual, strongly zygomorphic, and often are associated with conspicuous floral bracts in
a spike or raceme. The perianth is in two whorls, an herbaceous or membranous 3-lobed or
spathaceous tubular calyx and a petaloid tubular corolla with 3 lobes. The androecium
typically consists of 1 fertile stamen, a large opposing petaloid labellum representing 2
connate staminodia, and two smaller flanking petaloid staminodia. The gynoecium consists
of a single compound pistil of 3 carpels, a single style nestled in a channel of the
filament and anther of the fertile stamen and an inferior ovary with typically 3 locules,
each containing numerous axile ovules. Rarely the ovary is unilocular with parietal
placentation. The fruit is a loculicidal capsule or is berrylike.
Each "thumbnail" image below is linked to a larger photograph.
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Alpinia nutans, shell ginger. The most striking elements of this
flower are the brilliantly colored staminodial labellum and the massive anther of the
single fertile stamen. The globose, white stigma extends just beyond the tip of the
anther. |
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Alpinia purpurata, red ginger. This photo shows the brightly
colored bracts common in ginger inflorescences. The inflorescence is quite
showy even
though only one flower is open. These are typical ginger leaves. Note the parallel lateral
veins angled strongly toward the leaf tips. |
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Alpinia sp. In this ginger the bracts are pink. The single
functional stamen is opposite the large, pink-tinged staminodial labellum. Two additional
staminodia flank the fertile stamen. The outermost broadly triangular appendages are the
corolla lobes. |
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Curcuma longa, tumeric. |
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Globba patens. This curious ginger has an
interesting floral morphology. |
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Mantisia salitoria. |
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Hedychium coronarium, white ginger. |
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Hedychium flavescens, awapuhi melemele (yellow ginger). 1 -
habit. 2 - Note
the single functional stamen, the large 2-lobed labellum representing 2 connate
staminodia, the 2 additional flanking staminodia, the very narrow linear corolla lobes,
and the tubular portion of the corolla. 3 - This is a close view of the anther of
the single fertile stamen revealing the slender style nestled in the groove between the
orange anther sacs. The stigma is protruding from the top of the anther at the right side
of the photo. 4 - A sphingid moth that expired while "trapped" in the tube
of the ginger corolla. The moth's "tongue" was bent back on itself at the
base of the tube so it could not be withdrawn. |
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Hedychium gardnerianum, kahili ginger. The flowers of this
species are very similar to those of the yellow ginger. |
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Kaempferia roscoeana. |
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Tapinocheilos ananasae |
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Zingiber zerumbet, shampoo ginger, St. John Courtyard, University
of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, Jun 2004. |
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ginger |
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ginger |
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ginger, This rather typical ginger flower exhibits an inferior ovary,
tubular calyx, three lobed corolla, pinkish staminodes, a single fertile stamen, and style
and stigma. |
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