The plant from whose root is made the dried ginger of gingerbread also grows in Hawaii. It is called Chinese Ginger or Zingiber officinalis. From its light-skinned rhizome is made the Chinese candied and preserved ginger, and bits of the fresh root, or the young shoot, often add piquancy to Chinese cooking.
SHELL GINGER. PINK PORCELAIN GINGER
Alpinia nutans Roxburgh
Like a strand of closely strung shells, the buds of the Shell Ginger droop gracefully from the ends of the stalks. Each bud is thin and porcelain-like, white, pointed and tipped with bright pink. These shell-like buds open, a few at a time, and the flower pushes out. It has thin, white petals while a larger, ruffled portion is yellow, marked with red vein-like lines. One of the stamens also has a petal-like development. The fruit is a yellow ball.
The plant is made up of luxuriant stalks of long-bladed leaves which grow five to twelve feet high. It is a native of the East Indies. ([Plate XIV])
Another ginger of this genus, Alpinia mutica, is conspicuous in Hawaii not so much for its flowers, which are also yellow and white, as for its bright, orange-colored fruit—like round balls. These remain on the plant a long time and make good cut decorations.
YELLOW GINGER
Hedychium flavum Roxburgh
The Yellow Ginger has flowers like slender moths of pale, creamy, yellow. They rise at the end of narrow tubes above a green head composed of scaly bracts. One blossom emerges from behind each scale and the buds of those above it peep out like yellow quills. The flower has three petals, two paired and wing-like, the third large and looking like a second pair of wings, folded together. There are three slender sepals and a long filament of deeper color, holding the pistil and stamen. Yellow Ginger blossoms have a delicate fragrance, delightful when perfectly fresh, a little rank when the least bit wilted. Leis made before the buds open, have the smooth quality of old ivory carvings.
The plant has characteristic canes of long leaves which grow five to eight feet. It prefers cool locations, growing wild along the Nuuanu Pali road. Yellow Ginger is a native of India. ([Plate XIV])
CREPE GINGER. COSTUS
Costus speciosus Smith
(Costus spicatus[2])
Ruffled and fringed white flowers of odd form emerge, two or three at a time, from behind the scales of the large, brownish-red bracts of the costus. These form a dark head, often so large as to suggest a pineapple. The white flowers have a curious structure. The three, true petals are white and rather inconspicuous behind a large, crepy, white portion which seems to be the petal but is really a greatly modified stamen, called a staminoidium. This rolls into a bell form, with fringed and fluted edges and a pale yellow throat. A second modified stamen carries the anthers and has a yellow tip, making it appear like the usual center of a flower. The stems of this plant have a tendency to curve spirally. The leaves are not so long and blade-like as in other gingers and are arranged spirally on the stem. The plant is a native of the East Indies. ([Plate XIV])