Native Ginger

Alpinia caerulea is a rhizomatous plant with arching stalks growing to 2–3 m (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in) long. Each carries a number of large alternately arranged leaves up to 40 cm (16 in) long and 10 cm (3.9 in) wide. They are either sessile or with a very short petiole, glossy dark green above and lighter below, with an acuminate tip. The inflorescence is terminal on the stalks, up to 30 cm (12 in) long and contains numerous white flowers. The fruit is a capsule, blue, globose and about 1 cm (0.39 in) diameter. The casing is thin and brittle, containing numerous black seeds set in white pith. Flowering occurs from September to April, and the fruit may ripen in any month.

The native ginger is endemic to New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The natural range is from the Gosford district north along the coast to the tip of Cape York Peninsula and the islands of the Torres Strait (see map of sightings in the External links section below). It grows in coastal and sub-coastal rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest, commonly beside waterways. The altitudinal range is from sea level to around 1,400 m (4,590 ft). It is thought that the species might also occur in New Guinea.

Alpinia caerulea is one of the host species for larvae of the banded demon butterfly (Notocrypta waigensis). The fruits are popular with a variety of birds including brush turkeys (Alectura lathami), southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius), crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans), king parrots (Alisterus scapularis), regent bowerbirds (Sericulus chrysocephalus), satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), and Lewin's honeyeaters (Meliphaga lewinii). Some Australian rodents also eat the fruit, including giant white-tailed rats (Uromys caudimaculatus) and fawn-footed melomys (Melomys cervinipes).

For the Kuku Yalanji people of far northern Queensland, this plant had many uses – the fruit and rhizomes were eaten, the leaves were used to cover their shelters and to wrap meat when cooking in earth ovens. New shoots are also edible, and have a mild ginger flavour. The white flesh surrounding the seeds is crisp and acidic, and during long walks it was chewed by Indigenous Australians to activate the salivary glands and moisten the mouth, with the seeds usually being discarded.

The genus name Alpinia was coined by Carl Linnaeus in honour of the Italian botanist Prospero Alpini, and the species epithet caerulea is derived from the Latin word caeruleus, meaning blue, which is a reference to the fruit colour.