Zingiber Boehm. in Ludwin, Def. Gen. Pl. 89. 1760. K. Schumann in Engler, Pflanzenfam. 20(?. 46): 165 1904.
薑屬
Perennial herbs. Rhizome tuberous, branched, aromatic. Pseudostem erect. Leaves alternate, distichous; petiole swollen and pulvinus-like; leaf-blade lanceolate or oblong. Inflorescence cone-like, on a separate shoot arising from rhizome; peduncle short or long, closed with scaly sheaths; bracts closely imbricate, green or coloured, persistent, each with a single flower and a non-tubular bracteole; calyx tubular, 3-toothed and split unilaterally; corolla-tube slender, dorsal lobe usually broader than the laterals, white, cream, or violet; staminodes petaloid, adnate to the labellum thus forming a 3-lobed labellum; the mid-lobe of labellum with retuse or cleft apex; filament short and broad, connective prolonged into a slender curved beak-like appendage (anther crest), wrapped around the upper part of style; ovary 3-locular, with axil placentation; ovules numerous; style slender, beyond the anther-thecae; stigma not expanded. Capsules 3-locular, dehiscent loculicidally. Seeds black or dark browm, covered by a sac-like white aril with lacerate edges.
About 100 species, widely distributed throughout tropical Asia. Two native species in Taiwan.
Wu, D.-L, K. Larsen, and N. J. Turland 2000. Validation of the name Zingiber koshunense (Zingiberaceae), a species endemic to Taiwan. Novon 10(1): 88-89.
