Zingiberaceae (redirected from ginger family)

Zingiberaceae [‚zin·jə·bə′rās·ē‚ē]

(botany)

A family of aromatic monocotyledonous plants in the order Zingiberales characterized by one functional stamen with two pollen sacs, distichously arranged leaves and bracts, and abundant oil cells.

---

Zingiberaceae 

the ginger family, a family of monocotyledonous plants. They are perennial aromatic herbs with a fleshy rhizome and often with tuberiform roots. The leaves are biserial, with long ocreae and a ligule. The flowers usually grow in racemes and rarely are single; they are for the most part bisexual and either regular or irregular. The ovary is inferior. The fruit is a capsule, and more rarely, berry-shaped. All parts of the plants contain essential oils. There are approximately 45 genera (more than 1,300 species), predominantly in the tropics, more rarely in the subtropics of South and Southeast Asia. A few exist in Africa and America. Zingiberaceae are cultivated as food condiments and as medicinal and ornamental plants (ginger, tormentil, cardamom, turmeric). In temperate latitudes some Zingiberaceae are cultivated in greenhouses.