Characteristic Features:
Aromatic, rhizomatous, perennial herbs
Leaves distichous, sheathing at base, often ligulate
Flowers zygomorphic, bisexual, perianth biseriate and homochlamydeous
Fertile stamen one, dithecal, two staminodes form large petaloid lip or labellum
Ovary inferior, tricarpellary, syncarpous, maturing in to capsule or berry
World- 52 genera 1,587 species (The Plant List 2013); 50 genera 1,600 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016); 51 genera, 1400 species (Mabberely 2017); 52 genera, 1763 species (Roskov et al. 2021)
India - 24 genera 191 species (Karthikeyan 2000); 2 genera, 245 species (BSI 2021)
Indian Himalaya- 20 genera, 112 species (Singh et al. 2019)
Uttarakhand - 9 genera 29 species (Uniyal et al. 2007)
Zingiberaceae in POWO 2021 (Plants of the World Online)
Zingiberaceae in Wikipedia
Super Kingdom- Eukaryota, Kingdom- Plantae, Subkingdom- Viridiplantae, Infrakingdom- Streptophyta, Superphylum- Embryophyta, Phylum- Tracheophyta, Subphylum- Spermatophytina, Superclass- Angiospermae, Class- Magnoliopsida, Superorder-Lilianae, Order-Zingiberales
Division : Phanerogams
Class : Monocotyledons
Series : Epigynae
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Embryophyta Siphonogama
Subdivision: Angiospermae
Class : Monocotyledoneae
Order : Scitamineae
Phylum : Angiospermae
Subphylum : Monocotyledones
Division : Calyciferae
Order : Zingiberales
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Liliopsida
Subclass : Zingiberidae
Order : Zingiberales
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Commelinidae
Super Order: Commelinanae
Order : Cannales
Phylum : Magnoliophyta
Class : Liliopsoda
Subclass : Commelinidae
Super Order: Zingiberanae
Order : Zingiberales
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order : Lilianae
Order : Cannales
Division : Angiosperms
Clade : Monocots
Clade : Commelinids
Clade : Zingiberales
Class : Angiospermae
Subclass : Liliidae
Order : Zingiberales
Suborder : Zingiberineae
To see larger images please click on the names
Alpinia nigra (Gaertn.) Burtt
Hellenia speciosa (J.Koenig) S.R.Dutta
Curcuma longa L.
Vernacular name: Turmeric (English); Haldi (Hindi)
Nativity:India (POWO, 2019)
Common Characteristics: Perennial herb, very short stem, underground stem (rhizome) thick, large. Oblong leaves.
Flowering period: April to May
Propagation Methods: Vegetatively by the rootball, tubers, rhizome, bulbs (Dave’s Garden)
Photographed near Gandhi Bhawan