Ginger | |
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1896 color plate from Köhler's Medicinal Plants | |
Inflorescence | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Zingiberales |
Family: | Zingiberaceae |
Genus: | Zingiber |
Species: | Z. officinale
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Binomial name | |
Zingiber officinale |
Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is used as a spice and a folk medicine.[2]
It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems. These are false stems made of rolled leaves: about one meter tall with narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences come directly from the rhizome on separate shoots.[3]
Ginger is used as a cooking spice throughout the world. The ginger plant has long been cultivated. It came from China and spread to India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean.
Ginger is also a term used to describe a red-brown colour, as in ginger hair.