A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Unknow ginger

I recently bought two of these ginger plants at a local small nursery that has almost none of their plants tagged with anything other than a general name, and that name is on a nearby standard. I asked the nursery operator what the botanical name of these gingers is, He looked them up in a large book and told me they were "variegated ginger." Well, that was a real "duh" moment as you can tell from the pictures.

I've searched on line and have determined these plants are likely either Alpinia zerumbet or Alpinia sanderae -- I think. They look very similar to me although in some pictures I found the alpinia sanderae's light variegated color seemed to be more white than the alpinia zerumbet's which seems pretty yellow.

A further clue to the variety is that I chose the two plants on display at the nursery that were the least variegated, i.e. were the greenest and showing the least yellow. I've no idea if this clue is of any help but that's what I did so I'm mentioning it here.

I sure would like to know the botanical name of these gingers. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for anything you can do.

East Ginger


East Ginger closeup


West Ginger

Looks like Alpinia zerumbet.

Alan, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.