Kaempferia galanga (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, plant habit; 2, flower; 3, apex of fertile stamen; 4, style apex (Achmad Satiri Nurhaman)

Kaempferia galanga L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 2 (1753).

Vernacular names

• East-Indian galangal (En)
• Indonesia: kencur, cekur (general), bataka (North Sulawesi, Ternate, Tidore)
• Malaysia: cekur, cekur Jawa, cengkur (Peninsular)
• Philippines: gisol (general), disok (Iloko), dusol (Tagalog)
• Laos: 'van²'hom
• Thailand: hom proh (central), waan hom, waan teen din (northern)
• Vietnam: dia liền, sơn nai, tam nại.

Distribution

Possibly native only to India, where it is widespread, cultivated throughout South-East Asia, including southern China, in Malesia east to the Moluccas, possibly also introduced in northern Australia.

Uses

In Malaysia, rhizomes are used in traditional medicine for the treatment of high blood pressure, swellings, ulcers, sprains and asthma. Leaves and rhizomes are chewed to treat coughs and sore throat; they are also pounded and used in poultices and lotions applied to relieve many ailments. Rhizomes are an ingredient of post partum medicine and to treat common cold. Leaves and rhizomes are eaten fresh as a vegetable and used in cosmetic powder and as a food flavouring agent. In Indonesia, K. galanga is used in a similar way, to treat swellings, muscular rheumatism, wounds and as an antidote. It is a common ingredient of "jamus". In the Philippines, the whole plant is used as a remedy for common cold. Rhizomes are used to treat headache, dyspepsia and malarial chills. Rhizomes and leaves are used as a flavouring in food, rhizomes also in perfumery. The leaves are used as vegetable.

Observations

• A small herb.
• Leaves usually 2-3(-5), sheaths 1.5-5 cm long, blade often horizontal and appressed to the soil, broadly elliptical to suborbicular, 6-15 cm × (2-)5-10 cm, acuminate, glabrous above, arachnoid-hairy below.
• Inflorescence emerging from between the leaves, sessile, 4-12(-15)-flowered.
• Calyx 2-3 cm long, corolla white, tube 2.5-5 cm long, lobes 1.5-3 cm long, labellum broadly obovate, divided to about halfway or more, white or pale purple with violet to purple spots at base, each lateral lobe about 2-2.5 cm × 1.5-2 cm, other staminodes oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5-3 cm long, white, fertile stamen 10-13 mm long, connective deeply bilobed with reflexed lobes.

K. galanga thrives best in slightly shaded places such as open forest, forest edges, and bamboo forest, on various soils, up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [190] Brown, W.H., 1951-1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941-1943 edition. 3 volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. Vol. 1 (1951) 590 pp., Vol. 2 (1954) 513 pp., Vol. 3 (1957) 507 pp.
• [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• [261] Chu, D.M., Miles, H., Toney, D., Nguyen, C. & Marciano-Cabral, F., 1998. Amoebicidal activity of plant extracts from Southeast Asia on Acanthamoeba spp. Parasitology Research 84(9): 746-752.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [350] Dharma, A.P., 1981. Indonesische geneeskrachtige planten [Indonesian medicinal plants]. De Driehoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 168 pp.
• [363] Doan Thi Nhu, Nguyen Thuong Thuc, Do Huy Bich & Vu Thuy Huyen (Editors), 1991. Les plants médicinales au Vietnam. Livre 1. Médicine traditionnelle et pharmacopée [The medicinal plants of Vietnam. Volume 1. Traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia]. Agence de coopération Culturelle et Technique, Paris, France. 201 pp.
• [455] Gagnepain, F. 1908. Zingibéracées [Zingiberaceae]. In: Gagnepain, F. (Editor): Flore générale de l'Indo-Chine [General flora of Indo-China]. Vol. 6. Masson & Cie, Paris, France. pp. 25-121.
• [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië *[The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [615] Holttum, R.E., 1950. The Zingiberaceae of the Malay Peninsula. Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore 13(1): 1-249.
• [875] Lock, J.M., 1985. Zingiberaceae. In: Polhill, R.M. (Editor): Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands & Boston, United States. 37 pp.
• [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• [1066] Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of 'Indische groenten', 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1061 pp.
• [1126] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• [1128] Pételot, A., 1952-1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1287] Saralamp, P., Temsiririrkkul, R., Chuakul, W., Riewpaiboon, A., Prathanturarug, S., Suthisisang, C. & Pongcharoensuk, P. (Editors), 1996. Medicinal plants in the Siri Ruckhachati Garden. 2nd Edition. Siambooks and Publications Co., Bangkok, Thailand. 263 pp.
• [1372] Sirirugsa, P., 1992. Taxonomy of the genus Kaempferia (Zingiberaceae) in Thailand. Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 19: 1-15.
• [1406] Sudiarto, 1989. Kaempferia galanga L. in Central Java and West Sumatra. In: Siemonsma, J.S. & Wulijarni-Soetjipto, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia. Proceedings of the First PROSEA International Symposium, May 22-25, 1989, Jakarta, Indonesia. Pudoc, Wageningen, the Netherlands. pp. 306-308.
• [1496] Valeton, T., 1918. New notes on the Zingiberaceae of Java and the Malayan Archipelago. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série II, 27: 1-167.

Main genus page

• Kaempferia (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Halijah Ibrahim