Shell ginger
മലയിഞ്ചി
Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- —
- tall
- 2.7 m
- wide
- —
Zingiberaceae
Also called Shell-flower, Pink porcelain lily, Shell plant, Shellplant
Formerly Alpinia cristata, Alpinia engleriana, Alpinia fimbriata, Alpinia fluvitialis, and 12 more
When it flowers
Flowers December to September in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Rhizomatous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- S. Japan to Taiwan, S. China to N. Pen. MalaysiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from Wikipedia, one source
- Height
- 2.4 m to 3.0 mRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Flowers
- White, yellow, red, pinkRead from Wikipedia, one source
Not known yet: spread, water, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Cape leadwortFlowers October to November, when this does not
Cotton RosemallowFlowers October to November, when this does not
Crimson bottlebrushFlowers October to November, when this does not
JacarandaFlowers October to November, when this does not
LantanaFlowers October to November, when this does not
Mexican petuniaFlowers October to November, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Chinese
- 月桃, 豔山薑, 艷山薑、 艷山姜
- Spanish
- Lágrimas de San Juan, Antorcha, Boca de dragón
- French
- Gingembre coquille
- Portuguese
- Gengibre-concha, Colônia
- Japanese
- ゲットウ, 月桃
- Czech
- galgán ozdobný
- Chinese (China)
- 艳山姜
- root
- sizu
- Afrikaans
- Skulpgemmer
- Russian
- Имбирь зерумбет
- Polish
- alpinia zwyczajna
- Lithuanian
- Gražioji alpinija
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- 3D model: Alpinia zerumbet (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.