Amomum ligulatum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Amomum ligulatum R.M. Smith

Protologue: Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 42(2): 298 (1985).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: ubut bele sa'ai (Kenyah Dayak, East Kalimantan).

Distribution

Borneo (Sabah, East Kalimantan).

Uses

Locally in East Kalimantan, the tender inner pith of leafy stems is roasted or boiled and eaten to treat stomach-ache and diarrhoea.

Observations

• A large herb up to 250 cm tall.
• Leaves narrowly lanceolate, 25-80 cm × 3-5 cm.
• Inflorescence narrowly ellipsoid, about 12 cm long, on peduncle up to 10 cm long, bracts about 2 cm long.
• Flowers yellowish-orange, with pedicels up to 1 cm long, corolla tube about as long as calyx, labellum broad, orange with darker spot, anther with an undulate crest.
• Fruit ovoid, about 2 cm long, pale yellowish-brown.

A. ligulatum occurs in forest up to 1200 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Leaman, D.J., Yusuf, R. & Sangat Roemantyo, H., 1991. Kenyah Dayak forest medicines. Prospects for development and implications for conservation. Report for the World Wide Fund for Nature, Indonesia Programme. 34 pp. + appendices.
• Smith, R.M., 1985. A review of Bornean Zingiberaceae: 1 (Alpineae p.p.). Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 42(2): 261-314.

Main genus page

• Amomum (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Nguyen Quoc Binh