Alpinia aquatica (Retz.) Roscoe.
Aquatic Ginger / Lengkuas (Bru.); Encilongan kara (Dus.)
Description
Traditional Medicinal Uses
Ecology
Propagation
Distribution
Precaution
Perennial aromatic herb that can rise up to 2 m tall. Leaves are simple, alternately positioned, thinly smooth and subglabrous. Leaf blade is lanceolate, acuminate at apex, rounded at base with entire margin and pinnate venation. Flowers are white or pale pink and tubular. Inflorescence a terminal spike. Fruit a globose berry, green becoming black when mature that contains 1 seed. Rhizomes are
Chopped rhizomes are made into poultice and applied to cramped area used for postnatal treatment. Alternatively, the rhizomes are pounded, soaked in hot water and the warm infusion taken orally after childbirth. Both preparations are to be added with Curcuma longa (Kunyit biasa). The plant is reported for its antinociceptive, antiangiogenentic, antiarthritic, hepatoprotective, antiallergic, anticancer, antimicrobial and
It is commonly found in coastal areas and in open wastelands. It prefers fertile sandy soil under full sunlight and partial shade.
Seeds and sucker division.
Native to tropical Africa and Arabia. It has been naturalized in the Mediterranean, north Africa, the Indian subcontinent, South America and the
None