Native Ginger

Plant Description

Botanical name: Alpinia caerulea Common Name: Native Ginger
This Australian plant is clumping and consists of soft, thick stems arising from an underground rhizome. The plant grows to about 3m and likes plenty of water and some shade, but not full shade. It grows on rainforest margins. The large bright green leaves are up to 400 mm long. The white flowers are followed by round blue fruits to 15 mm in spikes on the ends of the stems. There are other Australian native gingers of different species and genera, but this is the most common one.

Usage

The pith inside the fruit has a pleasant, refreshing, lemony taste. Young root tips are edible, but do not have the strong ginger flavour of the exotic plant. The leaves were also used by aborigines to lay under meat cooked in an earth oven. This is a very common plant in cultivation, and some of us enjoy chewing the pith around the seeds. However it is not an important part of the Bush Food industry.

Alpinia caerulea, ginger

Native ginger leaves and fruits.