Alpinia galanga(L.) Willd.

greater galangal

WFO wfo-0000338490 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Alpinia galanga, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. a Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 204351229
Alpinia galanga, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 80460605
Alpinia galanga, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. c Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 62699787
Alpinia galanga, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. d Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204351159
Alpinia galanga, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. e Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 62699801
Alpinia galanga, photographed by Yj
fig. f Yj, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 76653631
Alpinia galanga, photographed by 葉子
fig. g 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 80460556
Alpinia galanga, photographed by Beah Vega
fig. h Beah Vega, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 114610106

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 14 botanical countries

Regions where Alpinia galanga is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Jawa, Malaya, Myanmar, Philippines, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaJawaMalayaMyanmarPhilippinesSumateraThailandVietnam
Native distribution of Alpinia galanga, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Jawa JAW
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Philippines PHI
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Alpinia alba (Retz.) Roscoe
  • Alpinia bifida Warb.
  • Alpinia carnea Griff.
  • Alpinia galanga var. galanga
  • Alpinia galanga var. pyramidata (Blume) K.Schum.
  • Alpinia galanga var. zingiberina (Hook.f.) Baker
  • Alpinia pyramidata Blume
  • Alpinia rheedei Wight
  • Alpinia viridiflora Griff.
  • Alpinia zingiberina Hook.f.
  • Amomum galanga (L.) Lour.
  • Amomum medium Lour.
  • Galanga major Garsault
  • Galanga officinalis Salisb.
  • Heritiera alba Retz.
  • Languas galanga (L.) Stuntz
  • Languas pyramidata (Blume) Merr.
  • Languas vulgare J.Koenig
  • Maranta galanga L.
  • Zingiber galanga (L.) Stokes
  • Zingiber medium (Lour.) Stokes
  • Zingiber sylvestre Gaertn.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.