Alpinia elegans (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Alpinia elegans (C. Presl) K. Schum.

Protologue: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 27: 288 (1899).

Synonyms

• Kolowratia elegans C. Presl (1827),
• Alpinia gracilis Rolfe (1884),
• Languas elegans (K. Schum.) Burkill (1935).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: bagombon, tagbak (Tagalog), katkatan (Bisaya).

Distribution

Endemic to the Philippines.

Uses

A decoction of the rhizomes is taken for haemoptysis. The leaves, pounded with a little salt, are rubbed on paralyzed parts of a patient. The juice expressed from young stems is used for urticaria. The young rhizomes are soaked in water and the infusion is drunk for headache.

Observations

• A stout herb, 2-4 m tall, rhizome stout.
• Leaves oblong-ovate to lanceolate, 25-60 cm × 5-20 cm, glabrous, petiole short, stout; panicle about 30 cm long, pendulous, branches short, about 8, covered with persistent bracts, bracts at base of peduncle oblong-lanceolate, 8-12 cm long, 1-several flowers per cincinnus, one opening at a time.
• Calyx 4 cm long, corolla up to 7 cm long, tube cylindrical, upper lobe 4 cm long, concave, erect, other 2 as long but oblong-ovate, reflexed, pale yellow, labellum as long as corolla lobes, obovate, spreading, yellowish, lateral staminodes present, stamen with developed filament, anther with small crest.
• Capsule ellipsoid, woody, 3-4 cm long.

A. elegans occurs in thickets along streams, at low and medium altitudes.

Selected sources

• [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.

Main genus page

• Alpinia (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Halijah Ibrahim