Alpinia zerumbet is a lush, coarse-textured, clumping evergreen planted for its heavy rosette of arching stems and green leaves arising from a large loose center. A. zerumbet forms dense thickets in suitable habitats, for example on stream banks and shady slopes. It produces as many as a 1000 seeds per square foot. Seeds have fleshy appendages and are bird dispersed; they may be carried by water when it grows near streams. It also reproduces by rhizome division.