A highly decorative and unusual Costus with hairy spiraling stems with dark coloured leaves and purple undersides. Lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum) has red and white flowers and an edible rhizome that is aromatic and spicy. Its best climate is the sub-tropics but it will grow well further south in temperate climates (will not tolerate frost) and in tropical climates it will grow so well it could boarder on becoming a weed. The database and code is licensed under a Flowers and leaves Photograph by: Fagg, M. Image credit to Australian National Botanic Gardens. Fragrant white flowers appear from late Spring to early Summer, eventually leaving blue berries that may be picked and eaten straight off the stem. They grow from thick rhizomes. Alpinia purpurata is an evergreen, herbaceous, perennial plant producing a clump of leafy stems 3 - 4 metres tall from an underground, creeping rhizome 360 Title Now one of the more versatile Australian native herbs is Native Ginger (Alpinia caerulea). Native ginger has foliage with broad sword-shaped green leaves with attractive red … Overview Information Alpinia is a plant that is related to ginger. The rhizome (underground stem) is creeping; the stems are upright and straight; the leaves are bright green, narrow, lanceolate and opposite, the flowers are white and red and in terminal clusters appearing in spring; the fruit, for which it is … Simon Schubert is a qualified Horticulturist who enjoys gardening and bush-walking. Alpinia Caerulea Red Back Ginger Often known as the red back ginger, grows to a height of 1.5-2 meters tall, has green leaves with a striking red to maroon colour on the underside of each leaf, it also has fragrant white flowers, which appear out of the tip of the plant during late summer to autumn. Ethnobotanical Uses Benth. The leaves are large and shiny. It has broad sword shaped green leaves with attractive red leaf reverses. Etymology: Alpinia: named after Prospero Alpini, Italian botanist (1553-1617). Last update on 2019-06-13: Now containing 11906 plants. Alpinia caerulea (R.Br.) A few species have been known to reach 8 metres (26 ft). The leaves are not glossy, and the foliage has very little fragrance. Native ginger Native ginger (Alpinia caerulea) is a traditional bush tucker plant whose leaves and rhizomes have a mild, tangy ginger flavour. Common Name: Native Ginger. All parts of this species are consumed as a bushfood. Though native ginger prefers full shade and moist well-drained soil, it is a very hardy plant and will tolerate part to full sun (though very hot sun can burn the leaves). Fruits: The fruit are rounded and blue-colored. APNI* Description: Perennial herb to 3 m high. Flowers and leaves Photograph by: Fagg, M. Image credit to Australian National Botanic Gardens. Berries are edible and loved by birds, if you're tempted to try the berries eat only the flesh and not the … Typically, the vine leaves are dark green, with a shiny upper surface. Foliage: The dark green elliptic shaped leaves are up to 40 cm long and 3–10 cm wide. First true leaf glabrous, cordate or ovate, about 15-20 mm long, petiole as long as or longer than the leaf blade.Second leaf narrower. Large bright green leaves are up to 400 mm long. Australian native ginger (Alpinia caerulea) with bobble-like blue capsules that contain white pulp. Foliage: The dark green elliptic shaped leaves are up to 40 cm long and 3–10 cm … Common Name: Native Ginger, Wild Ginger, Blue Ginger . Flowers rarely but is well worth it just for the foliage. Alpinia caerulea red is a beautiful ginger native to Australia from the rainforest understories of Northern NSW and Southern QLD. It is a rhizomatous, evergreen perennial that grows in upright clumps to 8-10’ tall. [3583], Thailand: K000720703: May 1, 2015: … I always knew this form of green leaved native ginger as Galangal though “native ginger” seems to be more commonly used by everyone else these days. Alpinia caerulea - native redback ginger APPEARANCE : Lush under-story native ginger with glossy evergreen foliage, tan on the reverse. 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. Copyright © 2020 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes. The fruit lasts for several months and has an extremely brittle shell containing masses of seeds surrounded by white edible pulp. A perennial clumping herb with soft thick stems arising from an underground rhizome. It is one of the most aromatic plants in my collection. Foliage: Its leaves are dark-green and broad-lanceolate shaped. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves 2- ranked, leaf blade linear-lanceolate, about 15-16 x 3.5-4 cm, petiolate, apex acuminate, base obtuse, glabrous.Lateral … Alpinia is closely related to the more widely known genera Hedychium and Canna. Origin: Eastern Australia (mid NSW to Far North Queensland). Alpinia caerulea (R.Br.) Hellenia caerulea R.Br. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong. This will ensure the future of the plant while giving you the tastiest fresh shoots. Benth. Ken Fern, In saying that it will tolerate most soils including very sandy, it will tolerate part shade to full sun (although this can lead to burnt, pale leaves) and extended dry periods. caerulea: Latin for blue. Simon Its fleshy roots are edible, and may produce white flowers by blue berries. Etymology: Atractocarpus: From Ancient Greek atractos (spindle)and karpos (fruit) from the […]. with help from This is an evergreen variety, retaining leaves through winter and still looking fairly neat. caerulea: Latin for blue. Zingiberaceae + Synonyms. Ajna Fern Benth. Alpinia zerumbet, commonly called shell ginger is native to eastern Asia. Being understorey plants with tall upright stems they are best positioned for protection from strong or dry winds. It's the right time of the year now to be pruning it back and dividing some of the clumps of the rhizomes. The different plant varieties have similar appearance, odour or taste. Clumping, multi-stemmed edible, perennial herb to 3 m. Dense, evergreen foliage, alternate leaves to 40 cm. Add compost and liquid fertilizer. Introduction: Alpinia caerulea is a perennial herb which grows in coastal regions of Australia. Learn how your comment data is processed. The leaves vary considerably in the amount of variegation, with some mostly green streaked with creamy yellow or gold, whereas others are primarily yellow with some green stripes. It is the Alpinia caerulea, better known as Red Backed Ginger, Native Ginger or Ginger ‘Red Back’. In frost-prone areas the plant may die back to the ground in winter, returning from it’s thick underground rhizomes in the spring. To harvest the … White flowers are followed by blue fruits. One cataphyll produced before the first true leaf. caerulea, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 11: 18(1895). This ginger is a clumping upright plant with striking maroon/red-backed leaves. Scientific Name: Alpinia caerulea Derivation of name. X. Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall) X. Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall) X. Synonyms Alpinia caerulea (R.Br.) He has a keen interest in science, the natural world and particularly our environment. If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. White flowers to 10 mm White flowers are followed by round blue fruits to 15mm in spikes on the ends of the stems. var. Family: RUBIACEAE. Alpinia is a diverse and easy-to-grow genus of tropical and subtropical gingers that hails from southeast Asia. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Grass. If using the roots for eating, harvest them by dig up rhizomes from the edge of the plant to find the new growing tips. The young tender root tips can be used as ginger and have the same gingery taste. Propagation: Propagation is by seed or rhizome. The Red Back Australian Ginger’s large leaves were traditionally cut and used in thatch shelters and as food wrappings during cooking. Alpinia caerulea, commonly known as native ginger or in the case of the subspecies from the Atherton Tableland red back ginger, is an understorey perennial herb to 3 m, growing under rainforest, gallery forest and wet sclerophyll forest canopy in eastern Australia. Gardeners in mild climates who grow alpinia will be rewarded with colorful terminal flower spikes, while those of us in colder zones where the foliage dies back in the winter will be left to enjoy alpinia … Wild Ginger refers to a number of plant varieties of Ginger. Genus: Atractocarpus (formaly Randia until 1999). web interface by Leaves are obovate … The leaf sheaths wrap tightly together. Berries can also be picked straight from the plant and leaves can be used for wrapping food for cooking and steaming which will give food a slight gingery taste. [ August 27, 2020 ] Alpinia caerulea Edible Plants (Common and Australian bushtucker) [ June 27, 2020 ... Foliage: Large glossy dark green leaves with yellowish veins and midrib. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The large upright stems with basal leaves can be a feature. Turns out it is super closely related, much closer than An evergreen perennial, clumping plant growing to a height of 2 metres with a spread of 1 metre. Gardens (Botanic, Botanical and other places of interest). The amount of variegation on the leaves varies a lot. The good news is that Alpinia nutans is a really great plant, even if it isn’t the true cardamom. Please join him on some fun adventures while learning about the life of plants and other interesting facts about our world. Gardeners appreciate the Native Ginger ‘Red Back’ for the simplistic tropical … This is why I call this plant false cardamom. The different plant species are : Alpinia Caerulea Asarum Caudatum Hedychium Gardnerianum Asarum Caudatum is named as British Columbia Wild Ginger, Western Wild Ginger and Long Tailed Wild … The colours are truly remarkable, the contrast of the leaves fade from back to front, greens to maroon with the typical ginger type frond. In their native tropical and subtropical climates native ginger will thrive – in fact, in the tropical north be careful of it taking over – b… Conservation Statues: Least Concern. Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status; May 1, 2015: Edwards, P.J. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Photography by Simon Schubert and Minako Howarth. Common Name:  Native Gardinia, Yellow Mangosteen, Brown gardenia and Orange Randia. Creamy-white flowers appear in summer followed by clusters of deep blue berries. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Generally free from pests and diseases. Leaves with lamina oblong-lanceolate, up to 40 cm long and 3–10 cm wide, glabrous, apex acuminate; shortly petiolate or sessile; ligule usually 10–15 mm long, entire, or slightly emarginate. Uses: Australian native gardens and rainforest gardens (understory plant), chemical free gardens, container growing, wildlife attracting including birds, lizards, butterflies, bees and other insects, it is also an effective erosion control plant and is pollution tolerant . Edible Plants (Common and Australian bushtucker). He would like to share his experiences and knowledge while learning better practices that will hopefully benefit the future for us all. Native Ginger Alpinia Caerulea Galangal Seeds Packet of 40+ super fresh home grown seeds! Richard Morris. When you see those passion flower leaves turning yellow, the odds are that your vine isn’t getting the nutrients it needs from the soil. If you would like to support this site, please consider, http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/floraonline.htm, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Bushwalking & Camping (National Parks & areas of natural beauty). The Aborigines wrapped the native ginger plant leaves around meat and cooked it in an earth oven. Useful Tropical Plants Database 2014 by Etymology: Alpinia: named after Prospero Alpini, Italian botanist (1553-1617). Comments have to be approved before they are shown here. Alpinia – named for Prospero Alpini, a 17th-century Italian botanist. Flowers: Flowers are small, white and fragrant born on small stalks, flowering Spring to Summer. Flowers: The inflorescence is a spike, upright and consists of many small white flowers. Edible Plants (Common and Australian bushtucker), Plant Identification (A to Z of plants) Maintenance: Keep moist and in shaded location. Alpinia caerulea – Native Ginger The native ginger is an edible perennial herb, and is a good bush tucker plant. Growth Requirements: Native ginger prefers a shaded, protected from wind position with a moist well drained humus rich soil. Variegata has green leaves with yellow bands. However, cold weather or insufficient irrigation could also be the culprit here. Description: Clumping perennial herb to 2 m growing from rhizomes. caerulea – Latin meaning 'blue' in reference to the colour of the fruit Description. Waxy white or pinkish, shell-like, fragrant flowers marked red, purple, or brown in pendent clusters on arching stems. Origin: Eastern Australia (mid NSW to Far North Queensland). Fruit: Blue edible fruit (only edible when ripe and blue, not green) 10-18 mm in diameter fruiting Summer to Autumn. and has a nice bushy habit. The leaves of this ginger plant are sometimes used in cooking instead of ginger root. An ideal understory plant. August 27, 2020 Dictionary of Botanical names by Don Perrin. Description: Clumping perennial herb to 2 m growing from rhizomes. Native ginger (Alpinia caerulea) Grows to 3 metres outside but smaller in a pot. The pith inside the fruit has a pleasant, refreshing, lemony taste. The native ginger is an excellent bush tucker food, Rhizomes can be eaten raw or cooked and can be used in curries, desserts and marmalade’s (it is less spicy than traditional ginger, which depending on your tastes maybe a good or bad thing). The fragrant white flowers are followed by blue berries. Seeds take about two months while rhizome can easily be divided from existing plant. The underground stem (rhizome) is used to make medicine. Larapinta Trail (Jay Creek to Alice Springs Telegraph Station), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window). species: fitzalanii. 0. The pulp of the blue berries has a pleasant slightly acid taste, the seed giving a ginger aftertaste. Alpinia caerulea is a rhizomatous herb, which can grow up to 2-3 m tall. It more typically reaches 4-8’ tall in the greenhouse and 3-4’ tall as a houseplant. Shiny leaves with distinct parallel veins; maroon leafstalks at maturity. Shell containing masses of seeds surrounded by white edible pulp origin: Australia. Earth oven even if it isn’t the true cardamom clusters of deep blue berries Simon Schubert a... 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