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Alpinia officinarum; photograph 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alpinia officinarum Hance

Lesser galangal; Chinese-ginger; Lesser galanga

Zingiberaceae · Hainan, China Southeast +1 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Alpinia officinarum, photograph Liza Daly (ld31337), Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsAlpinia officinarum, photograph Thomaswanhoff, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAlpinia officinarum, photograph Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAlpinia officinarum, photograph Abdun ibn Budlan, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsAlpinia officinarum, photograph إيان, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAlpinia officinarum, photograph Fumikas Sagisavas, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons 7 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.0°C
Record low 2.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,204mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 6 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Alpinia officinarum, known as lesser galangal, is a plant in the ginger family, cultivated in Southeast Asia. It originated in China, where its name ultimately derives. It can grow 1.5 to 2 m high, with long leaves and reddish-white flowers. The rhizomes, known as galangal, are valued for their sweet spicy flavor and aromatic scent. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Alpinia officinarum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Alpinia

Alpinia is a genus of flowering plants in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. Species are native to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, where they occur in tropical and subtropical climates. Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Alpinia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Alpinia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,749 mm of 2,293 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.7 °C against a yearly mean of 23.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Rain

2,293 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,749 mm of it May to September. Wettest month August at 400 mm, driest month January at 23 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,175 mm to 2,452 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,204 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,293 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.0 °C, the absolute minimum 2.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 14.0 °C to 15.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 71% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -15 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Alpinia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 6 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Alpinia officinarum through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 15.4 °C; 2,293 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°34.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER2.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 20–37RH 60–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 18–2219 / 19–2421 / 21–2724 / 24–3027 / 27–3129 / 29–3230 / 29–3230 / 29–3129 / 29–3027 / 27–2824 / 23–2520 / 20–22
Night °C15 / 14–1616 / 15–1718 / 18–2022 / 21–2325 / 24–2526 / 26–2727 / 26–2726 / 25–2625 / 24–2523 / 22–2320 / 19–2017 / 15–17
Rain mm23 / 21–3138 / 33–5160 / 56–74159 / 108–161314 / 239–340330 / 307–407352 / 315–355400 / 385–446353 / 300–381186 / 88–30151 / 40–9027 / 25–37
DLI21 / 18–2222 / 20–2327 / 25–3031 / 31–3534 / 33–3633 / 33–3637 / 35–3834 / 32–3532 / 30–3228 / 28–3024 / 23–2520 / 20–22
RH %63 / 62–6566 / 64–6868 / 64–6971 / 65–7169 / 66–7068 / 66–7068 / 66–6969 / 67–6966 / 66–6762 / 62–6460 / 60–6261 / 59–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 6 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1384:5740 (20.775, 107.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 3 distinct grid cells holding 6 of the 6 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1384:5740 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_106.875, lapse-corrected -15 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 85 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeHainan, China Southeast, Vietnam · introduced: Cambodia, Myanmar · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker19.233, 109.851 · in the densest population, 14 records (50% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 28 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 6 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 14 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 126 km away. 11 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 22 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 28 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Alpinia officinarum, photograph 1did not loadAlpinia officinarum, photograph 2did not loadAlpinia officinarum, photograph 3did not loadAlpinia officinarum, photograph 4did not loadAlpinia officinarum, photograph 5did not loadAlpinia officinarum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Liza Daly (ld31337), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Thomaswanhoff, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Abdun ibn Budlan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; إيان, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Fumikas Sagisavas, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Begonia boisiana Begonia boisiana Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY, Neal KelsoDracaena cambodiana Dracaena cambodiana Cambodian Dragon Tree Photo: CC BY, Eric KnightPhoenix roebelenii Phoenix roebelenii Pygmy date palm Photo: CC BY, Mark RichmanBambusa tuldoides Bambusa tuldoides Puntingpole bamboo Photo: CC BY-SA, KLé RagnoCalamus tetradactylus Calamus tetradactylus White rattan Photo: CC BY, Fiona Chan-CaryRadermachera hainanensis Radermachera hainanensis Bignoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQ

Other Alpinia 42 in the reference

Alpinia aquatica Alpinia aquatica Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY, John WittonAlpinia arundelliana Alpinia arundelliana Dwarf ginger Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg Tasney Alpinia brevilabris Zingiberaceae Alpinia breviligulata Zingiberaceae Alpinia caerulea Alpinia caerulea Native Ginger Photo: CC BY, Martin Hannan-JonesAlpinia calcarata Alpinia calcarata Indian Ginger Photo: CC BY, Paulmathi VinodAlpinia chinensis Alpinia chinensis Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY, Aaron ListonAlpinia conchigera Alpinia conchigera Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY, Brandon SeahAlpinia flabellata Alpinia flabellata Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY, Weiting LiuAlpinia formosana Alpinia formosana Zingiberaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAlpinia galanga Alpinia galanga Greater galangal Photo: CC BY, Kiwi ShenAlpinia hainanensis Alpinia hainanensis Hainan Galangal Photo: CC BY, olmagon all 43 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Languas officinarum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Zingiberaceae
Described by
Hance
Native to
Hainan, China Southeast, Vietnam
Wild records
28 in range · 14 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_106.875, lapse-corrected -15 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 16 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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