Zingiberaceae
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Zingiberaceae, the ginger family, is a family of flowering plants containing 58 genera and about 1600 described species distributed globally in the tropics and subtropics.<ref name="Christenhusz-Byng2016">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="GBIF">Template:Cite web</ref> They are aromatic perennial herbs with creeping rhizomes, sometimes tuberous. Many of the family's species are important ornamental, spice, or medicinal plants. Ornamental genera include the shell gingers (Alpinia), Curcuma, Hedychium, Kaempferia, and torch-gingers (Etlingera). Spices include ginger (Zingiber officinale), Thai ginger (Alpinia galanga and others), melegueta pepper (Aframomum melegueta), myoga (Zingiber mioga), korarima (Aframomum corrorima), turmeric (Curcuma), and cardamom (Amomum and Elettaria species).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Evolution
The earliest known fossils of the family belong to the Campanian age and are from the genera Spirematospermum in Germany,Tricostatocarpon and Striatornata in Mexico, and Momordiocarpon in India.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Spirematospermum chandlerae from the Santonian of North Carolina was previously classified in the Zingiberaceae, but more recent studies support it belonging to the Musaceae.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=mobot/>
Description
Members of the family are small to large herbaceous plants with distichous leaves with basal sheaths that overlap to form a pseudostem. The plants are either self-supporting or epiphytic. Flowers are hermaphroditic, usually strongly zygomorphic, in determinate cymose inflorescences, and subtended by conspicuous, spirally arranged bracts. The perianth is composed of two whorls, a fused tubular calyx, and a tubular corolla with one lobe larger than the other two. Flowers typically have two of their stamenoids (sterile stamens) fused to form a petaloid lip, and have only one fertile stamen. The ovary is inferior and topped by two nectaries, the stigma is funnel-shaped.Template:Citation needed
Some genera yield essential oils used in the perfume industry (Alpinia, Hedychium).
Genera
Template:As of, Plants of the World Online accepts the following 58 genera:Template:R Template:Columns-list
Taxonomy
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Phylogenetic tree of the family
Subdivisions
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- Subfamily Siphonochiloideae
- Tribe Siphonochileae
- Subfamily Tamijioideae
- Subfamily Alpinioideae
- Tribe Alpinieae
- Adelmeria
- Aframomum - grains of paradise
- Alpinia
- Amomum
- Aulotandra
- Cyphostigma
- Elettaria
- Elettariopsis
- Etlingera
- Geocharis
- Geostachys
- Hornstedtia
- Lanxangia
- Leptosolena
- Plagiostachys
- Renealmia
- Siliquamomum
- Vanoverberghia
- ×Alpingera F. Luc-Cayol (Alpinia × Etlingera) - intergeneric hybrid
- Tribe Riedelieae
- Tribe Alpinieae
- Subfamily Zingiberoideae
- Tribe Zingibereae
- Boesenbergia
- Camptandra
- Caulokaempferia
- Cautleya
- Cornukaempferia
- Curcuma
- Curcumorpha
- Distichochlamys
- Haniffia
- Haplochorema
- Hedychium
- Hitchenia
- Kaempferia
- Kedhalia
- Laosanthus
- Myxochlamys
- Nanochilus
- Newmania
- Parakaempferia
- Pommereschea
- Pyrgophyllum
- Rhynchanthus
- Roscoea
- Scaphochlamys
- Smithatris
- Stadiochilus
- Stahlianthus
- Zingiber
- Tribe Globbeae
- Tribe Zingibereae
- subfamily unknown
Distribution
The Zingiberaceae have a pantropical distribution in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, with their greatest diversity in South Asia.
References
Bibliography
External links
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- List of Indian medicinal plants from Biodiversity of India
- Abstracts from the Symposia on the Family Zingiberaceae
- A New Classification of the Zingiberaceae from the Third Symposium on Zingiberaceae
- Zomlefer, W.B. Flowering Plant Families. The University of North Carolina Press. 1994.
Template:Zingiberales Template:Angiosperm families Template:Taxonbar Template:Authority control