The 7th International Symposium on the Family Zingiberaceae took place in Chiang Mai, Tailand during August 17-20. The Botanical Garden Organization of Thailand hosted the symposium under the topic of “Gingers for Life” in celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday as well as on the auspicious occasion of the 60th birthday anniversary of HRH Maha Chakri Sinrindhorn.
The symposium was aimed to exchange opinions from all ginger lovers, with 180 representatives of universities, colleges and research institutions throughout the world. It highlighted recent developments and research related to the family Zingiberaceae and other families in the order Zingiberales. It emphasized multiple approaches to exploring the Zingiberaceae family and the great potential that Gingers have for improving the quality of life of all mankind.
Prof. Li Qingjun of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) was invited to present a lecture entitled “The re-finding of long tongued fly pollination of Roscoea on Himalayas” at the plenary session. He also chaired two of the five sessions ( Session 1: Taxonomy, Molecular Phylogeny & Systematics and Session 2: Ethnobotany, Pharmacology & Phytochemistry). Dr. Zhao Jianli made a presentation entitled “Speciation of alpine ginger Roscoea inferred from species-level phylogenetic reconstruction”.
The International Symposium on the Family Zingiberaceae is held about every three years and is the only international event to focus on this plant family. It has been held in Thailand for three times. XTBG was the host of the 5th International Sympoisium on the Family Zingiberaceae in 2009. The 8th symposium will be hosted by Singapore Botanic Gardens.
At the sessions
