History

Morphology Description (Habit)

It is a tall and perennial herb, with leafy stems. Rhizomes are creeping and branched, with several erect leafy shoots and panicles. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, 30-60 cm in length, glabrous and the tip is acuminate. The spikes are globose, very dense, and shortly peduncled. Calyx and corolla tube segments are sub-obtuse, shorter than the tube and the upper one is cuspidate. Lip is obovate-cuneate, emarginate, yellowish white and rather longer than the corolla-segments. Capsules are 2.5 cm long, irregularly obcordate, echinate, trilocular, dark red-brown in color, containing several aromatic seeds in each cell and held together by a viscous sugary pulp. The fruit is anterio-posteriorly flattened, having 15-20 irregular, dentate-undulate wings which extend from the apex to downward for two-thirds of its length. There are three well-known cultivated varieties in Sikkim.

Principal Constituents

Cardmonin, Alpinetin¹ and Subulin² were isolated from seeds. The major constituent of the essential oil from the seeds is cineol (64.94 %).

Toxicology

There is no adverse effect reported on usage of this plant.

Indications

Medicinally, the seeds are credited with stimulant and astringent properties. It is used in gastrointestinal and genito-urinary complaints.

Product Range

References

1.       Planta Medica, 1976, 29, 391.

2.       Indian J. Chem., 1977, 15B, 814.