Zingiber griffithii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Zingiber griffithii Baker

Family: Zingiberaceae

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: tepus merah, tepus kechil, tepus huma

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, peninsular Thailand.

Uses

The rhizomes are pungent. The whole plant may be used for poulticing the body, e.g. to alleviate fever.

Observations

• Rhizomatous, perennial herb with leafy shoots, up to 1.2 m tall.
• Leaves broadly lanceolate to ovate, 15-25 cm × 5-8 cm, beneath with very fine silky hairs, veins raised when dry.
• Inflorescence spiciform on a separate scape 4-15 cm long; bracts elliptical, up to 2.5-4 cm × 1.5-2.5 cm, pink to red; bracteoles absent; spike fusiform to cylindrical, 10-15 cm × 1.5-3.5 cm.
• Calyx 2.5 cm long; corolla 5 cm long, white to pale yellow, dorsal lobe 2 cm × 1 cm; labellum with triangular midlobe 17 mm × 6 mm, white to pale yellow, lateral staminodes very small.
• Fruit a glabrous capsule, about 2 cm long.
• Seed maroon.

Z. griffithii occurs in lowland evergreen forest or in secondary forest in damp, shady locations on soils rich in humus.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).

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

• Ridley, H.N., 1922-1925. The flora of the Malay Peninsula. 5 volumes. Government of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. L. Reeve & Co., London, United Kingdom.

• Theilade, I., 1996. Revision of the genus Zingiber in Peninsular Malaysia. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 48: 207-236.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen