| Alpinia zerumbet | |
|---|---|
| As a streetplant | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Zingiberales |
| Family: | Zingiberaceae |
| Subfamily: | Alpinioideae |
| Tribe: | Alpinieae |
| Genus: | Alpinia |
| Species: | A. zerumbet |
| Binomial name | |
| Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B. L. Burtt and R. M. Smith[1] |
|
Alpinia zerumbet (Light galangal, Pink porcelain lily, Shell flower, Shell ginger, Variegated ginger, Butterfly ginger, Japanese: gettō; Chinese: 艳山姜; pinyin: yàn shānjiāng) is a Chinese perennial plant of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
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Native to eastern Asia, this plant is a rhizomatous, ever green tropical perennial that grows in upright clumps 8–10 feet tall in tropical climates. It bears funnel-formed flowers. Flowers have white or pink perianths with yellow labella with red spots and stripes.[2] There are three stamens, but only one has pollen. There is one pistil. The fruit is globose with many striations. In more typical conditions, it reaches 4–8 feet tall in the green house, and 3–4 feet tall, as a house plant.[3] It is called a shell ginger or shell flower most commonly, because its individual pink flowers, especially when in bud, resemble sea shells.
Alpinia zerumbet is best grown in rich medium-wet, to wet well drained soils in full sun to part shade. Afternoon shade in hot summer climates, is recommended. Indoors, the plant must have bright light and humid conditions. Flowering rarely occurs before the second year.
The plant's long leaf blades are still used for wrapping zongzi. In Okinawa, Japan, A. zerumbet is known as Getto (ゲットウ).Its leaves are sold as herbal tea and are also used to flavour noodles and wrap rice cakes. Its tea has hypotensive, diuretic and antiulcerogenic properties. Decoction of leaves has been used during bathing to alleviate fevers.. The leaves and rhizomes have been proven effective against HIV-1 integrase and neuraminidase enzymes,[5] and has also shown anti-diabetic effect through inhibitions of formation of advanced glycation end products [6]. Besides, the antioxidant activities of different parts of Alpinia zerumbet has already been reported [7][8].