Statue of Unity – Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat Rain Forest Ektanagar

Alpinia calcarata

Syn. Languas calcarata

IUCN Red List Not Evaluated (NE)

Local name

  • Snap Ginger (English)
  • Kulanjan (Hindi)

Herb type

Evergreen Deciduous
Family: Zingiberaceae
2m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Alpinia calcarata bark

Bark

No true bark; the plant has leafy pseudostems formed by overlapping leaf sheaths. Rhizomes are thick, branched, aromatic, and pale brown externally.

Alpinia calcarata leaves

Leaves

Simple, alternate, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 20–50 cm long. Dark green, glabrous, with entire margins and a distinct midrib. Leaves arise alternately along the pseudostem.

Alpinia calcarata flower

Flower

White with pink or reddish streaks on the labellum. Borne in short terminal racemes. Flowers are fragrant and zygomorphic.

Alpinia calcarata fruit / seeds

Fruit / Seeds

Globose to ovoid capsule, about 1–1.5 cm in diameter. Turns orange-red when mature. Contains numerous small seeds enclosed in a thin aril.

Alpinia calcarata

Did you know?

Named after Prospero Alpini, a famous 16th-century Italian botanist, the genus contains over 230 to 240 species of aromatic rhizomatous herbs.

Distribution

World map showing distribution

S. India, China (Guangdong) to Indo-China.