GINGER: How Red is Red?

[jdr0918]

<<<In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Tracy" wrote:...Maybe there 
is a variety of the plant which has red blossoms.  I'm not even sure 
what the above-ground part of a ginger plant looks like!>>>

The Sergeant Majorette says

If what is sold at flower stands here in NYC as ginger actually is 
the above-ground part of the spice root, then it *is* red, but more 
scarlet than any kind of hair-color red. It's a huge, scary-looking 
bird-of-paradise looking tropical exotic.

After mentally compiling a survey of all the redheads in my reading 
and how they've been described, it seems to me that calling a 
redhead "ginger" does indeed refer to a tannish red and is mildly 
disparaging, ginger implying frizz and freckles as opposed to the 
peaches-and-cream strawberry blonde, or the stunning ivory-complected 
queen-of-the-copper-mountain redhead. Guys called "Ginger" in stories 
tend to look like leprechauns, and girls nicknamed "Ginger" because 
of their natural hair color tend to be the perky best friend of the 
pretty girl.

--JDR