Z. zerumbet can be characterized by the presence of a pulvinus between the base of the petiole and ligule [10] and is a variegated wild edible ginger with stems of approximately 1-2 m tall that are erect, oblique, round, annual and invested by the smooth sheaths of the leaves. The leaves and inflorescences of the pinecone ginger crop up from a thick knobbly rhizome or the underground stem that grows just under the surface of the soil (Figure 1). The leaves, which are sometimes purplish beneath young shoots, are thin approximately 25–35 cm long with their midribs strongly raised on the lower surface. The petiole is approximately 6 mm long while the ligule, which is very thin, entire, and broad, is approximately 1.5–2.5 cm long. The leaflets are arranged alternately along an arching pseudostem that grows 1-2 m in length. The inflorescence, which is approximatly 6–12 cm long and green when young and becomes red when old, is borne on a separate pseudostem from the leaves and has closely overlapping bracts or bracts that form an open pouch in which flowers occur, one in each bract (Figure 2). It is a spike, ovoid to ellipsoid in shape; bracts subtend the position of each of the flowers giving the inflorescence its pinecone shape. Z. zerumbet is also known as shampoo ginger because the mucilaginous substance present in the inflorescence is used by the Hawaiians as shampoo and natural hair conditioner [10, 11]. The bracts are approximately 3–3.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide while the bracteole is approximately 2.5 cm long, wide and thin but persistent until fruiting. The pale yellow or white flowers, which are usually longer than bracts, fragile, ephemeral and only lasting a few hours, produce in August and September [11] and emerge from the lowest bracts first, and when exhausted, the flower dries and falls away. The lip of the flower is three lobed. After flowering, the bracts change colour, which continues upward until the entire inflorescence is bright crimson. The corolla tube is as long as the bract while the style is long and filiform. The stigma is slightly projecting and its margin is ciliate.