Alpinia globosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Alpinia globosa (Lour.) Horan.

Family: Zingiberaceae

Synonyms

• Amomum globosum Lour.

Vernacular names

• Round Chinese cardamom (En).

• Vietnam: sẹ (northern), mè trè (southern).

Distribution

Southern China and Vietnam.

Uses

The seeds are used as a condiment, but they are more popular as a medicine (taken as a decoction) against disorders of the intestines such as colic, stomach-ache, dysentery.

Observations

Erect, perennial herb, up to 1.3 m tall. Leaves ovate-oblong, 60 cm × 12 cm, margin finely dentate-ciliate, apex acuminate, glabrous. Inflorescence terminal, spike-like, each bract with 4 flowers; flower 3 cm wide, white-reddish. Fruit a globose capsule, up to 1 cm in diameter, with brittle, whitish pericarp. Seeds 5-7, three-angled, compressed, slightly lobed at top, greyish, aromatic. A. globosa flowers in June in Vietnam and may also be of interest to other countries in South-East Asia.

Selected sources

• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Schumann, K., 1912. Zingiberaceae. In: Engler, A. (Editor): Das Pflanzenreich (The plant kingdom). Reihe Scitamineae. Fam. 46. W. Engelmann, Leipzig, Germany. 458 pp.