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Beehive Ginger
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Beehive Ginger
P Introduced Photo: Rushabh Chaudhari
Common name: Beehive Ginger
Botanical name: Zingiber spectabile    Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)

Beehive Ginger is a herbaceous, perennial plant producing clumps of erect, unbranched, leafy stems, up to 3 m tall, that arise from a fleshy, creeping rhizome. Flowers clusters which look like beehives, are borne on separate lateral shoots, up to 0.5 m in height. Bracts of inflorescence are dull yellow to reddish orange, forming open pouches with incurved margins. Flowers are dull greenish yellow to pale yellow; lip dark reddish brown to maroon, with yellow spots. The leaves of the plant are mostly oblong, tapering to a single point at the tip. The plant is sometimes used locally as a flavouring in food. It is widely grown as an ornamental, valued especially for its attractive flowers. Beehive Ginger is native to Andaman & Nicobar, Java, Malaysia and Thailand.
Medicinal uses: Water collected from the bracts of the iflowers is used by the Orang Aslis of the Temuan tribe (Negri Sembilan, Malaysia) to treat conjunctivitis.

Identification credit: Rushabh Chaudhari Photographed in Dataji Salvi Garden,Thane, Maharashtra.

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