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Reconstructing paleovegetation is an important part of understanding ancient ecosystems. Phytoliths are preserved even when other fossil evidence (pollen, macrofossils) is not, and can provide evidence for the diversity and distribution of taxa or vegetation that may otherwise have a poor fossil record. Understanding the range of morphologies within plants will help provide better paleovegetation inferences and paleoecological reconstructions. Groups such as the gingers and their relatives (Order Zingiberales) can be ecologically informative and have been used as indicators of frost-free environments. Phytolith morphology in Zingiberales was surveyed from vegetative and reproductive organs of 36 genera and all eight extant families and from the extinct taxon Spirematospermum. Druse, trough, and hat-shape phytoliths are found in vegetative organs and are diagnostic at the family level, while seed phytoliths …