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Boesenbergia rotunda
Also called Fingerroot, Chinese Ginger, Chinese Keys
Rotund boesenbergia, also called fingerroot or Chinese ginger, is a tropical ginger grown mainly for its finger-shaped rhizomes, used as a spice and medicinal herb. It needs warm, humid, shaded conditions similar to a tropical forest floor.
Boesenbergia rotunda (Thai: กระชาย, romanized: krachai, Khmer: ខ្ជាយ, romanized: k'jeay, Indonesian: temu kunci, Burmese: ဆိတ္ဖူး, romanized: Hsei' Hpu), commonly known as Chinese keys, fingerroot, lesser galangal or Chinese ginger, is a medicinal and culinary herb from China and Southeast Asia. In English, the root has traditionally been called fingerroot, because the shape of the rhizome resembles that of fingers growing out of a central piece.
Fingerroot is known as temu kunci in Indonesian. It is widely used in Javanese cuisine in Indonesia.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Boesenbergia rotunda by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
