Zingiberaceae

The ginger family, Zingiberaceae, contains over a thousand distinct species, many of which produces spectacular inflourescence. The edible ginger that we are familiar, is from the species Zingiber officinale.

Zingiberaceae belongs to the Order Zingiberales. The followings are the families in the Order Zingiberales:

          Order:    Zingiberales        Family (with 5 stamens):           Musaceae

                                                                                                 Lowiaceae

                                                                                                 Heliconiaceae

                                                                                                 Strelitziaceae

                                                   Family (with 1 stamens):           Zingiberaceae

                                                                                                 Costaceae

                                                                                                 Cannaceae

                                                                                                 Marantaceae

As we can see from the classification above, heliconia (Heliconiaceae) and banana (Musaceae) are distance relatives of ginger!

        Kingdom:       Plantae
             Division:       Spermatophyta
                  Subdivision:    Angiospermae
                       Class:             Monocotyledones
                             Order:              Zingiberales
                                    Family:           Zingiberaceae
 

An overview of the tribes and genera

                                Genus:    Etlingera

                                Genus:    Alpinia   

                                        Genus:    Curcuma

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