Wild Ginger on the forest floor in Piney Creek Wilderness in April 2012

Of course the name of this plant always makes me smile. My name is Ginger, of course, so Wild Ginger just sounds so…wild and fun and rather appealing. This plant is not really a ginger like the root we use in cooking. That is Zingiber officinale and only grows in the tropics. Our native Wild Ginger is actually called Asarum canadense. But it gets its name from the spicy roots that have been used medicinally.

The inconspicuous maroon flowers of Wild Ginger can be seen hidden below the leaves.

The flower of Wild Ginger itself is quite exotic looking, but you have to look under the leaves to find it.