Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Alpinia

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALP : Alpinia


Alpinia is a rather large genus of plants, with more than 230 species from the Ginger family (Zingiberaceae).

DNA sequence-based methods (See : References) have shown that this genus is polyphyletic. It is represented by six clades distributed across the tribe Alpinieae, that do not correspond to Smith's (1990) classification of the genus (See : References). Further research is needed to specify the taxa in this genus.

They occur in tropical and subtropical climates of Asia and the Pacific, and are in great demand as ornamentals because of their flashy flowers.

These plants grow from large rhizomes. The stem consists of closely folded blades, such as in banana trees. The flowers grow on long racemes.

Species

Common species:

Less common species: Image:Alpiniazerumbet2web.jpg|Shell Ginger (fruit dehiscing) Image:Alpiniazerumbet3web.jpg|Shell Ginger (flowers) Image:Alpiniazerumbet1web.jpg|Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet)

References

  • Smith, R.M. (1990) "Alpinia (Zingiberaceae): a proposed new infrageneric classification". Edinburgh Journal of Botany 47(1): 37, fig. 6B.
  • W. John Kress, Ai-Zhong Liu, Mark Newman and Qing-Jun Li - The molecular phylogeny of Alpinia (Zingiberaceae): a complex and polyphyletic genus of gingers; American Journal of Botany; 2005; 92:167-178

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

 


From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: