Species
+

Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm.

Kopi ‘enua, Sakai viro lambo, Shell Ginger, Shell-flower

Climate known 48 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Alpinia zerumbet, commonly known as shell ginger among other names, is a perennial species of ginger native to East Asia. The plants can grow up to 2.5 to 3 meters tall and bear colorful funnel-shaped flowers. They are grown as ornamentals and their leaves are used in cuisine and traditional medicine.

Text from Wikipedia, “Alpinia zerumbet”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Alpinia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Zingiberaceae
Described by
(Pers.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm.
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +10
Wild records
1243 in range· 271 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2503mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 374 mm (CHELSA)
Light
19–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Alpinia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2503 mm a year, wettest June at 374 mm, driest December at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 9.9 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Alpinia cristata Griff.; Alpinia fimbriata Gagnep.; Alpinia fluvitialis Hayata; Alpinia nutans var. longiramosa Gagnep.; Alpinia penicillata Roscoe and 13 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Alpinia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1903 mm of 2503 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.0 °C against a yearly mean of 22.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2503 mm a year, wettest June at 374 mm, driest December at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2503 mm a year at the habitat, 1903 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 374 mm, driest December at 54 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1849 mm to 4005 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 9.9 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 9.9 °C, the absolute minimum 4.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 13.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 9.4 °C to 16.7 °C), warmest day 29.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 9.9 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Alpinia, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 13 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2503 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 497 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 19–37RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 497 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 15–2219 / 16–2221 / 19–2524 / 22–2727 / 24–2928 / 26–3029 / 27–3029 / 27–3028 / 26–2926 / 23–2823 / 20–2520 / 17–22
Night °C13 / 9–1714 / 11–1716 / 13–1919 / 16–2222 / 19–2424 / 21–2625 / 22–2725 / 22–2724 / 20–2621 / 18–2418 / 15–2115 / 11–18
Rain mm58 / 23–231124 / 40–261149 / 52–233177 / 91–234282 / 197–374374 / 259–511337 / 184–511373 / 246–552360 / 197–549141 / 41–47974 / 25–37754 / 24–259
DLI19 / 14–2422 / 16–2727 / 22–3331 / 27–3633 / 29–3533 / 31–3537 / 35–3934 / 31–3630 / 28–3327 / 23–3022 / 17–2519 / 14–23
RH %63 / 59–7064 / 60–7064 / 61–7065 / 62–7065 / 63–7066 / 63–7066 / 64–6967 / 65–6966 / 64–7064 / 61–7063 / 59–6962 / 57–69

Each figure is the median across the 497 grid cells holding the 1214 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1310:6035 (24.475, 121.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 497 distinct grid cells holding the 1214 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1310:6035 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.50_121.875, lapse-corrected +76 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 330 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaya· introduced: Azores, Canary Is., Ascension, St.Helena, Ogasawara-shoto, Philippines, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Hawaii, Florida, Honduras, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Bolivia
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.596, 120.998 · in the densest population, 951 records (77% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1243 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 271 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 36 km away. 518 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 29 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1243 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Alpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbetAlpinia zerumbet

Photographs: (c) amantedarmanin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) 葉淑蓮, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Alpinia zerumbet, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Factors of Risk in the Development of Coronary Heart Disease—Six-Year Follow-up Experience
William B. Kannel, THOMAS R. DAWBER, ABRAHAM KAGAN, NICHOLAS REVOTSKIE (1961) · Annals of Internal Medicine
Bioactive Compounds and Bioactivities of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)
Qian-Qian Mao, Xiao-Yu Xu, Shi‐Yu Cao, Ren‐You Gan (2019) · Foods
Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Antiviral Properties of Herbal Materials
Shokoh Parham, Anousheh Zargar Kharazi, Hamid Reza Bakhsheshi‐Rad, Hadi Nur (2020) · Antioxidants
Effects of different drying methods on the antioxidant properties of leaves and tea of ginger species
Eric Wei Chiang Chan, Yau Yan Lim, Siu Kuin Wong, Kim Kiat Lim (2008) · Food Chemistry
Larvicidal Activity of essential oils from Brazilian plants against Aedes aegypti L.
Eveline Solon Barreira Cavalcanti, Selene Maia de Morais, Michele A. A. Lima, Eddie William Pinho Santana (2004) · Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Neuroprotective and Anti-Aging Potentials of Essential Oils from Aromatic and Medicinal Plants
Muhammad Ayaz, Abdul Sadiq, Muhammad Junaid, Farhat Ullah (2017) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Plastid genomes reveal support for deep phylogenetic relationships and extensive rate variation among palms and other commelinid monocots
Craig F. Barrett, William J. Baker, Jason R. Comer, John G. Conran (2015) · New Phytologist
Uso e diversidade de plantas medicinais em Santo Antonio do Leverger, MT, Brasil
Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo (2002) · Acta Botanica Brasilica
Antioxidant Capacities and Total Phenolic Contents of 56 Wild Fruits from South China
Fu Li, Botao Xu, Xiang‐Rong Xu, Xin-Sheng Qin (2010) · Molecules
Essential Oils and Their Individual Components in Cosmetic Products
Eduardo Guzmán, Alejandro Lucía (2021) · Cosmetics

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Alpinia 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 107 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.