[5] The earliest known fossils of the family belong to the Campanian age and are from the genera Spirematospermum in Germany,Tricostatocarpon and Striatornata in Mexico, and Momordiocarpon in India.

[6][7] Spirematospermum chandlerae from the Santonian of North Carolina was previously classified in the Zingiberaceae, but more recent studies support it belonging to the Musaceae.

[8][1] Members of the family are small to large herbaceous plants with distichous leaves with basal sheaths that overlap to form a pseudostem.

Flowers are hermaphroditic, usually strongly zygomorphic, in determinate cymose inflorescences, and subtended by conspicuous, spirally arranged bracts.

[3] Zingiberaceae Costaceae Cannaceae Marantaceae Lowiaceae Strelitziaceae Heliconiaceae Musaceae Phylogenetic tree of the family Zingiberoideae Alpinioideae Siphonochiloideae Tamijioideae The Zingiberaceae have a pantropical distribution in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, with their greatest diversity in South Asia.