Native ginger
View diary entry Excerpt from Annabella’s journal, 16 March 1844All my spare time today was devoted to painting which is our present ‘craze’ before breakfast. I coloured a spotted flower which I sketched last night — we found it in our ramble yesterday — I have only seen two before, one at ‘Early Flat’ when we were on our way to Bathurst from Capita and which Miss Wallis, our first Governess sat down at once and painted. The other was found by Captain Hope it is a curious flower but not so pretty as a little lilac flower I drew yesterday.
Saturday 16 March 1844
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Annabella’s watercolour of native ginger
Alpinia caerulea
Family
Zingiberaceae
Common name
Native ginger
Alpinia caerulea was named after Italian botanist Prosper Alpini, while caerulea refers to the deep blue colour of the fruit. Native ginger grows well in coastal rainforest areas. The fruit can be peeled and the flesh around the seeds eaten. The leaves were also used by local Indigenous people to place under meat being cooked in earth ovens.
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