Description

Shell ginger, is a perennial species of ginger native to East Asia. They can grow up to 8 to 10 ft (2.4 to 3.0 m) tall and bear colorful funnel-shaped flowers. They are grown as ornamentals and their leaves are used in cuisine and traditional medicine. They are also sometimes known as the pink porcelain lily, variegated ginger or butterfly ginger.

Characteristics:

Native to India, Shell ginger is a tall and dramatic landscape or container plant. The leaves are about 2 ft long and 6 in across and strikingly variegated with irregular stripes of green and yellow in some varieties. The habit is upright and does not require staking as do some other members of the ginger family. The flowers are white, tipped in pink, and borne in long pendant arches. In some varieties, there is no pink in the tip. The individual flowers are reminiscent of small seashells, which accounts for the common name "shell ginger".Typically, shell ginger grows to about 6 ft, but it can grow up to 12 ft high.

Medicinal Uses:

In Manipur, fresh rhizome is applied to ringworms and other skin diseases. Rhizomes are stimulant, carminative; used in rheumatism and bronchial catarrh. They are also used as analgesic, anthelmintic, blood purifier, carminative, demulcent , diaphoretic , diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, purgative, sedative, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular etc a number of other ailments