Botanical name: Zingiber officinale    Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)

Common ginger is a herbaceous perennial with upright stems and narrow medium green leaves arranged in two ranks on each stem. The plant gets about 4 ft tall with leaves about 3/4 in wide and 7 inches long. Ginger grows from an aromatic tuberlike rhizome which is warty and branched. The inflorescence grows on a separate stem from the leaf stem, and forms a dense spike, up to 3 in tall. The bracts are green with translucent margins and the small flowers are yellow green with purple lips and cream colored blotches. Most gingers in cultivation are sterile cultivars grown for the edible rhizome, and the flower is rarely seen. The ginger plant has a long history of cultivation, having originated in Asia and is grown in India, Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Caribbean.

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The flower labeled Ginger is ...