Alpinia mutica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Protologue: Asiat. Res. 11: 354 (1810).

Synonyms

Malaysia, planted in Vietnam and India as an ornamental.

In Peninsular Malaysia an infusion of the rhizome is taken as a stomachic and for abdominal trouble.

A rather slender herb, 1-2 m tall, rhizome rather slender.
Leaves narrowly lanceolate, up to 45 cm × 5 cm, long acuminate, glabrous, petiole about 2 cm long, ligule ovoid, 7-8 mm long, blunt; panicle few-many-flowered, up to 15 cm long, branches several, short, cincinni 3-5-flowered, bracts absent, bracteoles very small, oblong, 6 mm long, white, caducous.
Calyx tubular, 15-20 mm long, split halfway during flowering, white, corolla tube shorter, lobes oblong, 2.5-3 cm long, white, labellum broadly ovate, somewhat 3-lobed, basal part strongly concave, apex straight, bright yellow to orange with numerous red dots and veins, a dark red swelling at the base at each side, staminodes absent, stamen as long as corolla lobes, filament white, tinged pink, anther without crest.
Capsule ovoid, up to 2 cm in diameter, sparsely short hairy, orange-red.
Seeds numerous.

A. mutica occurs in swampy localities, but is common as a garden plant in Singapore.

[135] 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.
[381] Habsah, M., Amran, M., Mackeen, M.M., Lajis, N.H., Kikuzaki, H., Nakatani, N., Rahman, A.A., Ghafar & Ali, A.M., 2000. Screening of Zingiberaceae extracts for antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 72(3): 403—410.
[941] Sirat, H.M., Rahman, A.A., Itokawa, H. & Morita, H., 1996. Constituents of the rhizomes of two Alpinia species of Malaysia. Planta Medica 62(2): 188—189.