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Bitter ginger

Zingiber zerumbet

Also called Shampoo Ginger, Pinecone ginger, Martinique Ginger, Wild Ginger, Zerumbet Ginger

Bitter ginger
Photo: Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 3.0

Bitter ginger is a perennial ginger species from tropical Asia with leafy stems to about 1.2 m and red, cone-shaped flower heads. It grows best in warm, moist, partly shaded conditions, and dies back above ground in cooler months.

Family
Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep soil consistently moist during the growing season and water less while the plant is dormant.
Soil
Rich, well-drained, moisture-retentive soil or peat-based mix.
Temperature
20–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Trop. & Subtrop. Asia
Climate
wet tropical

About

Zingiber zerumbet is a species of plant in the ginger family with leafy stems growing to about 1.2 m (4 ft) tall. It originates from Asia, but can be found in many tropical countries. Common names include: awapuhi (from Hawaiian: ʻawapuhi spelled with an ʻokina, doublet of ʻawa), bitter ginger, shampoo ginger, lempoyang (from Malay) and pinecone ginger.

The rhizomes of Z. zerumbet are used as food flavoring and appetizers in various cuisines, and the rhizome extracts have been used in herbal medicine.

Where it grows

Z. zerumbet is native to tropical Asia and Australasia. The subspecies Z. zerumbet subsp. cochinchinense (Gagnep.) Triboun & K.Larsen (previously Z. cochinchinense) is found in Vietnam.

Other Zingiber plants

Cassumunar Ginger · Myoga · Ginger · Ginger

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Zingiber zerumbet 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.

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