Red Ginger

Did you know

• Red ginger is the national flower of Samoa, where it appears on the country's coat of arms and decorates wedding canoes.
• The fiery red 'flowers' are actually waxy bracts—the true flowers are tiny and white, peeking out between the bracts only briefly.
• A unique feature: red ginger reproduces vegetatively by sprouting tiny baby plants directly from the flower spike itself, which root and grow when they touch soil.
• Hawaiian florists use red ginger in nearly every wedding and luau bouquet—the cut stems hold their color for weeks without water.
• Despite its name, red ginger is in the same family as the edible ginger root—but its rhizomes are bitter and aromatic, used only as folk medicine, not in cooking.

Color meanings

Uses

• Tropical landscaping
• Cut flowers
• Wedding bouquets
• National symbol