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| Category: Perennial |
| Family: Zingiberaceae (Gingers) |
| Origin: Polynesia (Pacific Ocean) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: White |
| Bloomtime: Summer |
| Synonyms: [Alpinia speciosa, A. nutans, Catimbium speciosum] |
| Height: 6-8 feet |
| Width: Spreading |
| Exposure: Light Shade/Part Sun |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): High Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 15-20° F |
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Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger) - This ginger displays its wildly fragrant waxy whitish-pink flowers in the late summer on arching stems. Grows to 6 to 8 feet tall and spreads by rhizomes. Plant in morning sun to light shade (tolerates full sun on coast) protected from wind, and water regularly to frequently. An evergreen perennial in Sunset zones 22-24. Creamy white flowers, tinged with pink and yellow (shaped somewhat like shells) appear in summer. Hardy to about 15-20 degrees F.It is a much faster grower than the other Alpinias we propagate. This plant was named after Prospero Alpino (1553-1616) a professor of Botany at Padua in Italy, an early, if not the very first, botanical garden. The specific epithet zerumbet is of Arabic origin and appears to have been first used by Serapion, an eleventh-century physician and scholar, for the aromatic roots of this family. This plant has been in cultivation in the West for over 200 years.
This information about Alpinia zerumbet displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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