Alpinia

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Alpinia
Alpinia zerumbet 3.jpg
Alpinia zerumbet
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Alpinioideae
Tribe: Alpinieae
Genus: Alpinia
Roxb., 1810
Species

See text

Synonyms [1]
20 synonyms

Alpinia is a genus of flowering plants in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. Species are native to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, where they occur in tropical and subtropical climates. [2] Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants. [3]

Contents

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by the Scottish botanist William Roxburgh in 1810, and published in the journal Asiatic Researches [4] It is named after Prospero Alpini, a 17th-century Italian botanist who specialized in exotic plants. [5] Species of the genus are known generally as shell gingers. [3] [6]

Description

These herbs lack true stems, but have pseudostems usually up to about 3 metres (9.8 ft) long which are composed of the overlapping leaf sheaths. [2] [3] A few species have been known to reach 8 metres (26 ft). [7] They grow from thick rhizomes. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong. The inflorescence takes the form of a spike, a panicle, or a raceme. It may be hooded in bracts and bracteoles. The flower has a shallowly toothed calyx which is sometimes split on one side. The flower corolla is a cylindrical tube with three lobes at the mouth, the middle lobe larger and hoodlike in some taxa. There is one fertile stamen and two staminodes, which are often joined into a petal-like labellum, a structure that is inconspicuous in some species and quite showy in others. The fruit is a rounded, dry or fleshy capsule. [2] [3] The plants are generally aromatic due to their essential oils. [8]

Species

This is the largest genus in the ginger family, [7] with 248 species and 2 hybrids accepted by Plants of the World Online as of 27 June 2024. [1] A number of those are commonly grown for their flowers, including red ginger, and others are used as spices, including Galangal.

Accepted species

Accepted hybrids

Distribution

The genus Alpinia is native to the countries (and regions) of; Andaman Islands, Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Bonin Islands, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, southern China, East Himalaya, Fiji, Hainan, India, Japan, Java, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Islands, Philippines, Queensland, Ryukyu Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Volcano Islands. [1]

Ecology

Most Alpinia are plants of forest understory habitat. Most are pollinated by large bees, but some are pollinated by birds and bats. [7]

Uses

According to a research team of National Chung Hsing University, Alpinia was found to have anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, anti-tumor and other effects. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zingiberaceae</span> Family of plants

Zingiberaceae or the ginger family is a family of flowering plants made up of about 50 genera with a total of about 1600 known species of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Many of the family's species are important ornamental, spice, or medicinal plants. Ornamental genera include the shell gingers (Alpinia), Siam or summer tulip, Globba, ginger lily (Hedychium), Kaempferia, torch-ginger Etlingera elatior, Renealmia, and ginger (Zingiber). Spices include ginger (Zingiber), galangal or Thai ginger, melegueta pepper, myoga, korarima, turmeric (Curcuma), and cardamom.

<i>Elettaria</i> Genus of plants

Elettaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. They are native to India and Sri Lanka, but cultivated and naturalized elsewhere. One member of the genus, E. cardamomum, is a commercially important spice used as a flavouring agent in many countries.

<i>Zingiber</i> Genus of flowering plants

Zingiber is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, China, the Indian Subcontinent, and New Guinea. It contains the true gingers, plants grown the world over for their culinary value. The most well known species are Z. officinale and Z. mioga, two garden gingers.

<i>Curcuma</i> Genus of flowering plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae

Curcuma is a genus of plants in the family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam tulip. They are native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea and northern Australia. Some species are reportedly naturalized in other warm parts of the world such as tropical Africa, Central America, Florida, and various islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Generally, most curcuma grows well in loose and sandy soil in shaded areas.

<i>Alpinia zerumbet</i> Species of flowering plant

Alpinia zerumbet, commonly known as shell ginger among other names, is a perennial species of ginger native to East Asia. The plants can grow up to 2.5 to 3 meters tall and bear colorful funnel-shaped flowers. They are grown as ornamentals and their leaves are used in cuisine and traditional medicine.

<i>Costus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Costus is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, erected by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

<i>Mussaenda</i> Genus of flowering plants

Mussaenda is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are native to the African and Asian tropics and subtropics. Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants.

<i>Phrynium</i> Genus of flowering plants

Phrynium is a genus of flowering plants native to China, India, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Melanesia. It was described as a genus in 1797.

Meistera is an Asian genus of plants in the family Zingiberaceae. Species have been recorded from Tropical & Subtropical Asia to northern Queensland.

<i>Elettariopsis</i> Extinct genus of flowering plants

Elettariopsis was a genus of plants in the ginger family, that has now been subsumed into the genus Amomum. Species are native to Southeast Asia, southern China and New Guinea.

Geocharis is a genus of plants in the family Zingiberaceae. It is native to insular Southeast Asia.

<i>Hornstedtia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Hornstedtia is a genus of plants in the Zingiberaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, southern China, New Guinea, Melanesia and Queensland.

<i>Plagiostachys</i> Genus of flowering plants

Plagiostachys is a genus of plants in the Zingiberaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia.

<i>Boesenbergia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Boesenbergia is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It contains more than 90 species, native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.

<i>Rhynchanthus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Rhynchanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the ginger family. It is native to Yunnan, Myanmar, and the Assam region of eastern India.

Scaphochlamys is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It is native to Southeast Asia.

<i>Globba</i> Genus of flowering plants

Globba is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It contains about 100 species, native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Queensland.

Rosemary Margaret Smith (1933–2004) was a Scottish botanist and illustrator who specialized in the taxonomy of the Zingiberaceae, or ginger family. Many of the species she classified and identified as being placed into improper genera were found in Asian countries, especially in the isolated island of Borneo.

Sulettaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. The species of the genus were formerly placed in the genus Elettaria until 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Alpinia Roxb". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Alpinia. Flora of China.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Alpinia. Flora of North America.
  4. Roxburgh, William (1810). "Descriptions of several of the Monandrous Plants of India, belonging to the natural order called Scitamineae by Linnaeus, Cannae by Jussieu, and Drimyrhizae by Ventenat". Asiatic Researches. 11: 350. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  5. Simonetti, G. (1990). Stanley Schuler (ed.). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices . Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN   0-671-73489-X.
  6. Alpinia. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  7. 1 2 3 Kress, W. J., et al. (2005). "The molecular phylogeny of Alpinia (Zingiberaceae): a complex and polyphyletic genus of gingers". American Journal of Botany 92(1), 167-78.
  8. Victório, C. P. (2011). "Therapeutic value of the genus Alpinia, Zingiberaceae". Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia 21(1), 194-201.
  9. 曾彥學、邱輝龍、吳佾鴻 (2017). 曾彥學 (ed.). 惠蓀饗宴 植栽食藥用植物圖鑑. 國立中興大學農業暨自然資源學院實驗林管理處. ISBN   978-986-04-7966-9.