Plant of the Week 01/19/2004: Shampoo Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet)

Plant of the Week 01/19/2004

Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Roscoe ex Smith

Photographed by: Chelsie Vandaveer
Credits: Shampoo ginger in personal garden
Other Information: Olympus C-4000 zoom

The pinecone or shampoo ginger (Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Roscoe ex Smith) is believed native to India and the Malaysian Peninsula. It is one of those plants so long under cultivation in so many places throughout Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Oceania that it is uncertain where the plant originated. Pinecone ginger is considered a canoe plant, that is, a plant introduced throughout the Pacific by the ancient Polynesian settlers. All parts of the pinecone ginger are spicy fragrant.

The leaves and inflorescences of the pinecone ginger arise from a thick knobby rhizome that grows just under the surface of the soil. The leaflets are arranged alternately along an arching pseudostem that grows one to two meters (3 to 7 feet) in length.

The inflorescence is borne on a separate pseudostem from the leaves. It is a spike; bracts subtend the position of each of the flowers giving the inflorescence its pinecone shape. The inflorescence is green until flowering. The pale yellow or white flowers emerge from the lowest bracts first, when the flower is spent, it dries and falls away. After flowering, the bracts change color. The color change continues upward until the entire inflorescence is bright crimson.

The bracts serve as natural reservoir for a clear soapy liquid exuded by the inflorescence. This 'shampoo' was used by Polynesians when bathing, both for the hair and skin. It is the ginger additive in several modern herbal shampoos. To use the liquid fresh from the plant, the 'shampoo' is obtained by gently rolling the inflorescence between the palms of the hands.