The common ginger's nephew: Crepe-ginger
Costus speciosus : Captured with GalaxyA15
The Crepe-ginger
I know ginger; it has been one of the ingredients in my culinary art, with a peppery-pungent taste and a strong flavour that pairs well with garlic. I even have it growing in my garden, so when I saw this plant, I knew right away it was not the ginger I knew, it only had a striking resemblance, but was just too big, too tall, with leaves that were too large.
I just have the right tool to tell some of these things apart, a powerful image recognition technology that was developed by Google.
Deploying the Chrome-integrated version of Lens
It identified this plant as Costus speciosus.
Scientific classification
| Crepe-ginger | Common Ginger | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom: | Plantae | Plantae | |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes | Tracheophytes | |
| Clade: | Angiosperms | Angiosperms | |
| Clade: | Monocots | Monocots | |
| Clade: | Commelinids | Commelinids | |
| Order: | Zingiberales | Zingiberales | |
| Family: | Costaceae | Zingiber | |
| Genus: | Cheilocostus | Zingiber | |
| Species: | C. speciosus | Z. officinale |
The Crepe-ginger is also known as Alpinia malaccensis, its beautiful looks and flowers make it a good ornamental plant for parks, with its striking crepe-like flowers that come in shades of white, pink, or red, and sometimes have a touch of yellow or orange. Besides the beautiful flowers, the leaves are also beautiful, looking juicy-green with an elliptical shape. One planted, you don't have to be attending to it, it requires little help to grow in a well drained soil.
It has a root system similar to that of the common ginger. So cutting out a single segment of its rhizome root can croll and grow into a clump of stems in a very short time, colonising new areas.
Some people cultivate it for its medicinal uses; it is an ingredient in some traditional medicines. Crepe ginger can be used to treat digestive issues, inflammation, skin conditions, respiratory problems and so on. The smart approach to this is always recommended, if you are not trained in the use of this plant as a medicine, then don't try it. Let's be mindful of what we eat.
Though it is said to make a good spice for cooking, I am yet to use it, but if you have used it, I would love to know.
I am inviting you and the following to comment on the popularity and uses of Costus speciosus. @bela90, @nspidoz, @ninapenda, @dequeen, @rubee2as1 and @whoever can add value to this post.
Media Credit |
|---|
| Composer | @manuelhooks |
|---|---|
| Captured by | @manuelhooks |
| Captured with | Galaxy-A15 |
| Location | 4.9972808, 7.9435762 |
| Posting Date | Wednesday 17th September |
| (@) 2025 |
Refrences
A lot of credit to Google Lens for providing the help in confirming the identity of this plant.
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#nature #discovery #education
#nigeria #learning
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#science
This is locally called mbritem. Goats favourite leaf to browse.
It's juice is medicinal. It is chewy like sugar cain though it sours unlike sugar cain which is sweet.
Curated by: pandora2010