Thursday, January 29, 2009

Kaempferia galanga herbal medicine

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Zingiberoideae
Tribe: Kaempferia
Genus: Kaempferia
Species: K. galanga


Binomial name
Kaempferia galanga
(L.)

Kaempferia galanga, commonly known as aromatic ginger, sand ginger or resurrection lily, is a monocotyledonous plant in the ginger family. It is found primarily in open areas in southern China, Taiwan, Cambodia and India, but is also widely cultivated throughout Southeast Asia. The plant is used as a herb in cooking in Indonesia, and especially in Bali; its Indonesian name is kencur. Its leaves are used in the Malay rice dish, nasi ulam. Unlike Boesenbergia pandurata (grachai or Chinese key), kaempferia galanga is not commonly used in Thai cuisine but can be bought as a dried rhizome or in powder form at herbal medicine stalls. It is known in Thai as proh horm or horm waan. It is also used in Chinese cooking and Chinese medicine and is sold in Chinese groceries under the name Sha Jiang,[1] while the plant itself is referred to as shan nai (Chinese: ??; pinyin: shannai).[2] Kaempferia galanga has a peppery camphorous taste.[1] It is one of four plants known as galangal, and is differentiated from the others by the absence of stem and dark brown rounded rhizomes, while the other varieties all have stems and pale rosebrown rhizomes.[citation needed]

Pharmacology
The rhizomes of aromatic ginger have been reported to include cineol, borneol, 3-carene, camphene, kaempferol, kaempferide, cinnamaldehyde, p-methoxycinnaamic acid, ethyl cinnamate and ethyl p-methoxycinnamate. Extracts of the plant using methanol have shown larvicidal activity against the second stage larva of dog roundworm (Toxocara canis). It was also found to be effective as an amebicide in vitro against three species of Acanthamoeba which cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis and amebic keratitis. In 1999 the rhizome extract was found to inhibit activity of Epstein-Barr virus. Further research has demonstrated that the extract effectively kills larvae of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus and repels adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, both of which are serious disease vectors. As a result of these findings, research is underway to evaluate the plant extract's use as an insect repellent, with preliminary findings suggesting that it is a non-irritant to the skin of rats.[3]


Uses
The rhizomes of the plant, which contains essential oils, have been used in Chinese medicine as a decoction or powder for treating indigestion, cold, pectoral and abdominal pains, headache and toothache. Its alcoholic maceration has also been applied as liniment for rheumatism.[3]


References
^
a b Van Wyk, Ben-Erik (2005), Food Plants of the World, Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc, ISBN 0-88192-743-0
^ Wu, Delin; Larsen, Kai (2000), "Kaempferia galanga", in Wu, Z. Y.; Raven, P.H.; Hong, D.Y., Flora of China, 22, Beijing: Science Press; St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press, pp. 74
^
a b Kanjanapothi, D., et al. (2004), "Toxicity of crude rhizome extract of Kaempferia galanga L. (Proh Hom)", Journal of Ethnopharmacology 90 (2-3): 359-365, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T8D-4B726PB-3&_user=650606&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000035099&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=650606&md5=f50e45a2f890ae85e61d1f994cc92f1f#bib6
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tags : Kaempferia galanga, kencur, Tanaman OBAT,

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