Ginger

spice · medicine · plants

Underground superstar. Ginger isn't actually a root, it's a rhizome, which is a thick underground stem that stores energy and grows sideways under the soil. This is why you can break off pieces of ginger and plant them to grow new plants.

Fancy purple flowers. Ginger plants grow tall green shoots with long leaves, and produce beautiful flowers with pale yellow petals that have purple edges. The flowers pop right up from the underground rhizome on their own special shoots.

Kitchen favorite. People have been using ginger as a spice for thousands of years because of its warm, spicy flavor that makes food taste amazing. You'll find it in cookies, stir-fries, tea, and lots of other yummy dishes.

Old-time healer. Long before modern science, people used ginger as a folk medicine to help with upset stomachs, nausea, and other body troubles. Some of these uses have actually been backed up by modern research.