A Guide to Gingers of Borneo

About this book

Language: English

The gingers are rhizomatous perennial herbs, mostly aromatic, of the family Zingiberaceae which has over 1500 species, with its centre of diversity in Asia. It is the largest family in the order Zingiberales, which contains nearly 3000 species. The gingers are related to the Bananas, Strelitzias (Bird-of-paradise flowers), Orchidanthas, Heliconias, Costus (Spiral Gingers), Cannas and Prayer-plants. In Borneo the gingers display a great diversity and are separated into 19 genera with nearly 250 named taxa (and many others still to be identified). They favour riverine and limestone forests, but occur from lowland coastal forests to as high as lower montane forest; only a few occur in upper montane forest.

Many ginger species – and 4 of the 19 genera – in Borneo are endemic to the island, which is one of the world's hotspots of plant diversity; this is also true for ginger diversity. While some gingers provide spices such as ginger, galangal, turmeric and cardamom, other species are utilised as vegetables or for the fruits, and many have medicinal uses. Though most have flowers that last only a day, the showy inflorescences produce a series of flowers for several days. These and species with beautiful foliage have potential as ornamental plants. A Guide to Gingers of Borneo covers 100 species, representing all 19 genera of Borneo.

Contents

Foreword  vii
Introduction  1
The Ginger Family in Borneo  1
The Ginger Plant  10
Pollination and Seed Dispersal  11
Non-native Gingers  14
The Genera of Gingers in Borneo  18

A Selection of Species  23
Alpinia  24
Amomum  36
Boesenbergia  51
Burbidgea  61
Camptandra  64
Elettaria  65
Elettariopsis  68
Etlingera  70
Geocharis  86
Geostachys  88
Globba  89
Haplochorema  94
Hedychium  95
Hornstedtia  98
Myxochlamys  105
Plagiostachys  106
Scaphochlamys  111
Tamijia  113
Zingiber  114

Further Reading  129
Acknowledgements  133
Photo Credits  135
Index  136
Appendix  139

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