PlantWave – Shell Ginger

For this PlantWave exploration, I stayed in my backyard and hooked my music maker up to a plant that loves calling me over to admire her awesomeness whenever I walk by.

Surprisingly she wasn’t as self-assured as I had expected. Instead, she has a soft, almost hesitant song, as you can hear on the recording at the bottom of this article.

Ignorance might be bliss, but it doesn’t help you learn about plants

At the time of recording, I didn’t know how receptive she would be, let alone what kind of plant she was. But, thanks to the App PlantSnap, I discovered that her awesomeness is a Shell Ginger and not called ‘Weird lychee-like flower plant’ as I had christened her.

And, thanks to some Google sleuthing, I found that she has more to offer than just good looks. She has the potential to heal.

(Yes, I am notoriously bad at naming things)

Mid-sized (1-2.5m tall) plant with broad (deep) green leaves with irregular gold stripes. 

It has fleshy peachy-cream flower buds that grow from a spear-shaped pod. In full flowering mode, they hang downwards like a bunch of grapes, and the texture and colour of the flowers are similar to the lychee fruit. 

Individual flower buds open up to reveal a second part with frilly yellow lips. 

They are stunning but a little weird looking - they remind me of Sigourney Weaver's Alien friend.

The Shell Ginger plant is found in Tropical Asia (from Japan across to India) as well as New Guinea and Australia.  

It is also now naturalised in Africa, North & South America and Pacific islands e.g. Fiji.

Shell Ginger Plant – just ornamental, or does it have special powers?

Belonging to the same plant family as supermarket ginger, Shell Ginger has a few powers. It’s hard to say how many as most online articles are either science-light or, worse, overloaded with it. But, I found a great (easy to read) scientific study that gives you an insight into the culinary uses and potential health benefits of my new PlantWave friend. Check out the link to this study at the bottom of this article.

I can’t beleaf it – you made tea?!

As you might have already heard – Okinawa Island (Japan) is one of the healthiest populations in the world and one of the 5 Blue Zones  renowned for their healthy lifestyle, diet and longevity. Okinawan women, for example, live longer than any other nation’s female population, and studies suggest this is down to the regular use of Shell Ginger in their diets.

In addition to flavouring dishes and wrapping up foods, Shell Ginger is commonly brewed as a herbal tea.

The tea uses the leaves and flowers (not the root) of the Alpinia zerumbet and contains a high percentage of polyphenols. Like the antioxidants vitamins C, E and carotenoids, polyphenols reduce inflammation in the body and boost immunity, improving cardiovascular disease and slowing the ageing process.

Not bad for a plant that I thought was purely ornamental!

Flowers the language of love…

You probably think the fleshy Alien vibe flowers are my favourite part of the Shell Ginger Plant, but you would be wrong.

Its flowers are impressive, but I don’t rank them above its big glossy striped leaves that cheerfully wave at me on my daily walk. No, what I really love about this plant is its fruit.

They have a real Mid-Century Modern vibe to them.

After flowering, the Shell Ginger produces little ribbed fruit that range in colour from orange to reddish-brown with pale blue-grey seeds that look like Chinese lanterns suspended from dried stems. They are gorgeous and so stylish. Shell Ginger really is the plant that keeps on giving.

But, before I start boring you about one of my favourite design periods let’s call it a day and have a listen to Missy Shell Ginger.

PlantWave Recording: Alpinia zerbumbet

Hit the sound graph on the image to listen to my Shell Ginger PlantWave recording, or click on the image to navigate over to SoundCloud.

Interested in learning more?

About Shell Ginger medicinal research – check out Viewpoint: A Contributory Role of Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) for Human Longevity in Okinawa, Japan?

About Blue Zone countries – head over to Blue Zones

About PlantWave – go check out their awesome blog that covers how their device works and how people are using it to create music. You can find them here on PlantWave.com

Article Update

Look what I found!

A product with shell ginger as its main ingredient.

Cool right?

It’s called Herbal Facial Cream – Alpine Leaf Water and helps to brighten your skin using herbs and essential oils.

Have I tried it yet?

I have yet to crack it open because it’s at the back of a very long queue of face products that I own (I am a skincare tart), but I have been using their Skin Therapy Facial Oil, and that is amazing!

So where did I find this shell ginger face product?

At the cutest little natural body & face shop in Candi Dasa, Bali.

I won’t go into details of when, where and how come, as I plan on sharing more Bali Adventures in later blog posts, including one about this adorable little shop and my thoughts and experiences with their products.

However, if you can’t wait to check things out, you can head over to their online shop Alam Zempol now.

And don’t forget to check back later for more about this lovely Balinese natural brand and shop.