Native Ginger
Alpinia caerulea
Common name: Native Ginger
First Nations name: Jun Jun is the name for the native ginger plant from the Kuku Yalanji people of coastal north east Queensland.
Scientific name: Alpinia caerulea
Height: In ideal conditions, native ginger can grow up to 3m tall but usually averages at 2m.
Leaves: Long, glossy leaves with a pointed end that fan out from the stem. The length of the leaves can measure up to 40cm.
Flowers: Native ginger produces small creamy white flowers.
Fruit: Following the flowers, large bunches of small, blue-shelled fruits appear. The consumption of native ginger fruits helps to relieve digestive issues including pain, motion sickness, nausea and loss of appetite. The ginger tuber which forms beneath the soil is also edible.
First Nations Uses: Native Ginger was often used as a snack for First Nations. They would peal off the blue outer shell, remove the seed and consume the spicy flesh within. It is said that the small ginger fruits were so frequently consumed that if you got lost, you could follow the trail of blue shells you left behind.

