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Zingiber

(Redirected from True ginger)

Zingiber is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. It is native to China, the Indian subcontinent, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia, especially Thailand.[2][3][4][5] It contains the true gingers, plants grown the world over for their culinary value. The most well known species are Z. officinale and Z. mioga, two garden gingers. The genus name comes from Latin borrowing the Tamil name for the first species.[6]

Zingiber
Zingiber officinale
1896 illustration[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Spermatophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Zingiberoideae
Tribe: Zingibereae
Genus: Zingiber
Mill., 1754
Synonyms[2]
  • Amomum L., rejected name
  • Pacoseroca Adans.
  • Thumung J.Koenig in A.J.Retzius
  • Dieterichia Giseke
  • Jaegera Giseke
  • Cassumunar Colla
  • Zerumbet T.Lestib. 1841, illegitimate homonym, not Garsault 1764 nor J.C. Wendl. 1798
  • Dymczewiczia Horan.

Culinary

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Each ginger species has a different culinary usage; for example, myoga is valued for the stem and flowers. Garden ginger's rhizome is the classic spice "ginger", and may be used whole, candied (known commonly as crystallized ginger), or dried and powdered. Other popular gingers used in cooking include cardamom and turmeric,[7] though neither of these examples is a "true ginger" – they belong to different genera in the family Zingiberaceae.

Species

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Zingiber cernuum
Zingiber officinale
Zingiber ottensii
Zingiber macradenium
Zingiber spectabile
Zingiber wrayi
Zingiber zerumbet
Zingiber montanum
Zingiber parishii

As of January 2026, Plants of the World Online accepts the following 212 species:[8][8]

References

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  1. ↑ Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
  2. 1 2 "Zingiber Mill". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. ↑ "Zingiber Miller,". Gardener's Dictionary Abridged. Vol. 3 (4th ed.). p. 1754 – via Flora of China.
  4. ↑ Govaerts, R. (2004). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-54382. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  5. ↑ Tripathi, S.; Singh, K.K. (2006). "Taxonomic revision of the genus Zingiber Boehm. in North-East India". Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany. 30: 520–532.
  6. ↑ Ravindran, P. N. (28 December 2017). The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices. CABI. p. 398. ISBN 978-1-78064-315-1.
  7. ↑ "Flower notebook: Zingiber". Kalani Tropicals. Retrieved November 11, 2011.[dead link]
  8. 1 2 "Zingiber Mill". Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
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