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| 1 | Leaves spirally arranged on a true aerial stem, or 4 in a cross-shaped rosette appressed to the ground; hairs bicellular | Costus |
| 1 | Leaves distichous; hairs unicellular | 2 |
| 2 | Inflorescence terminal on (pseudo) stem (which is c.2 m high) | Hedychium |
| 2 | Inflorescence arising from the base or from a rhizome | 3 |
| 3 | Small plants, often flowering before the leaves are fully developed; leaf sheaths usually not forming a pseudostem at least at flowering time; apex of stamen petaloid, at least twice as long as the basal anther | Siphonochilus |
| 3 | Large plants with leafy shoots fully developed at flowering time; leaf sheaths always forming a distinct pseudostem; apex of stamen 2-3-lobed or truncate, shorter than the subterminal anther | Aframomum |
| Home | > | List of families | > | Zingiberaceae | > | Key to genera |