Etlingera punicea (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Etlingera punicea (Roxb.) R.M. Smith

Family: Zingiberaceae

Synonyms

• Hornstedtia macrocheilus Ridley,
• Achasma coccineum (Blume) Valeton,
• Amomum coccineum (Blume) K. Schumann.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: tepus bener, rongod (Sundanese)
• Malaysia: chalong (Peninsular).

Distribution

Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Uses

The aril around the seeds is edible, sweet. Pounded leaves are rubbed over the whole body against fever.

Observations

• Robust perennial herb, up to 7 m tall, with slender rhizome.
• Leaves subsessile, lanceolate, up to 108 cm × 18 cm.
• Infructescence globular, 12 cm in diameter, near to the ground.
• Fruit sessile, berry-like, obovoid or obconical, polygonal, 2-5 cm × 2-3 cm, 9-14-ribbed, densely sericeous.

In primary and secondary forests, often along water, at 800-1600 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 Volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands.

• Holttum, R.E., 1950. The Zingiberaceae of the Malay Peninsula. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 13: 1-249.

• Smith, R.M., 1985-1986. A review of Bornean Zingiberaceae 1 & 2. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 42: 261-314, 43: 439-466.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen