Zingiber malaysianum 'Chocolate'

Native home and background

Zingiber malaysianum is native to Peninsular Malaysia and is found particularly in Johor, where it grows in shaded forest.

It has a small natural range that includes the Labis Forest Reserve. The name 'Chocolate' is used for the dark-leaved form.

Care for 'Chocolate'

• Light: Give it bright filtered light or light shade.
• Humidity: Maintain high humidity with steady air movement around the foliage.
• Watering: Keep the potting mix evenly moist while new shoots are growing and let excess water drain freely.
• Potting mix: Use a rich potting mix that holds moisture, with pumice, perlite or bark to keep it loose and help excess water drain.
• Temperature: Keep the plant consistently warm.
• Feeding: Use a balanced fertiliser while new shoots are growing, at the rate on the label.
• Repotting: Use a broad pot that gives the shallow, spreading rhizomes room to grow. Repot when the rhizomes fill the pot or new shoots crowd the rim.
• Propagation: Divide healthy rhizomes into sections, making sure each piece has a healthy growing bud.

Common problems with 'Chocolate'

• Leaf edges curl, dry or turn brown: The mix is getting too dry or humidity is low. Keep the mix evenly moist and maintain high humidity.
• Leaves yellow and shoot bases become soft: Potting mix that stays very wet can lead to root and rhizome rot. Isolate the plant, improve drainage and cut away rotten tissue back to firm healthy tissue with a disinfected tool.
• Tan bleached patches form on the leaves: Strong direct sun can scorch the foliage. Move the plant to bright filtered light.
• Tiny pale speckles or webbing develop: Spider mites can affect gingers in warm growing conditions. Isolate the plant, rinse the foliage and use a treatment labelled for mites, repeating it as directed on the label.
• Aphids gather on soft new growth: Remove visible aphids and use a labelled treatment if needed, repeating it as directed on the label.

If you need help identifying a problem, send us clear photos of the whole plant and the affected area. Include the soil or potting mix around the roots.

Keep Zingiber malaysianum ‘Chocolate’ away from children and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• Its effects after chewing or swallowing are unclear, and plant material can still cause an upset stomach.
• Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop or do not settle.

How the name Zingiber malaysianum came about

Zingiber reached botanical Latin through Greek from an ancient South Asian name for ginger. The epithet malaysianum means from Malaysia.

Philip Miller established the genus Zingiber in 1754 in The Gardeners Dictionary Abridged, fourth edition.

Chong Keat Lim first described Zingiber malaysianum in 2002 in Folia Malaysiana, volume 3, page 27.