Zingiber

Tepus is a wild ginger shoot that can be cooked to make a delightful dish in Sarawak. The shoots are often available in the weekend tamu. Its flowers are lovely to look at but it they are often missed because they grow at ground level. The shoots have a pretty pink skin which must be peeled off to get to the tender hearts of the shoots. A lovely stir fry with ikan bilis or kasam ikan.

Etlingera hemisphaerica is a herbaceous perennial plant producing a clump of erect stems about 2.5 metres tall from nderground rhizomes. The flowers are produced on separate, shorter stems growing directly from the rhizomes. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food. It has been recommended as a source of material for making paper. It is often grown as an ornamental.

Etlingera littoralis (J.König) Giseke. Zingiberaceae. CN: [Malay - Tepus (generic and used for most wild gingers)]. Native to China (Hainan), Thailand, Malesia (Indonesia - Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra; Malaysia). Common in damp lowland forests throughout Peninsular Malaysia. Flowers with narrow lips and completely bounded by a yellow margin; emerge through the ground a little away from the leafy shoots. The decoction of the rhizomes has been used for the treatment of stomachache, carminative and heart tonic. Young unopened shoots eaten raw or blanched. Stem used to hasten ripening of fruits. *Wikipedia