| General Information |
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| Distribution | A complex genus of approximately 200 species distributed throughout southeastern Asia and Indo Malesia to Queensland, Australia, China, and Japan.
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Habit
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Large erect herbs with leafy shoots (pseudostems) 2-12 m tall, rhizomes fibrous, creeping.
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Leaves
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Leaves numerous, distichous, oriented transverse to the rhizome, petioles usually long, ligules well developed.
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Flowers
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Flowers in congested heads, lax racemes, or thyrses, terminal on leafy shoots or occasionally radical, subtended by spathe-like outer bracts when young, primary bracts subtending a single flower or cincinnus, bracteoles open to base or tubular, persistent or caducous, or absent; floral tube usually not exceeding calyx; calyx funnelform or tubular, shallowly or deeply lobed; labellum entire or lobed at apex, inconspicuous or showy; staminodes present as small subulate teeth or absent; filament usually well developed, longer than the anther; anther locules divided by a broad connective, ± apically prolonged.
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Fruit
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Capsules globose or rarely ellipsoid, crowned by the persistent calyx.
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Seeds
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Seeds several or numerous, arillate.
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Notes
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Recent molecular studies by Kress et al. (2005) indicate Alpinia is highly polyphyletic with six major clades.
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Contributor
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David Lorence
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