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Medicine - The plant helps regulate menstruation and is used to improve digestion and liver function. Fresh juice from the tuber is given to children for worm infestation. The rhizome is used as a spice, in medicine, and in perfumery. It possesses aromatic, stomachic, carminative, stimulant, cooling, and diuretic properties. Additionally, the rhizome contains many medically active substances, including essential oil (Chauhan et al., 2023).
Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal
It grows in moist, shady locations, often in damp, deciduous forests and along streams.
Known as Mango Turmeric or Mango ginger for its camphor-like, green mango aroma. A good source of starch and essential oils.
It is herbaceous perennial herb, 0.5-1.5 m tall, with rhizomatous growth.
The plant consists of clumps of herbaceous and erect pseudostems, or above-ground shoots, approximately 75 cm tall, that emerge from an underground rhizome.
Leaves are large, simple, and oblong or lance-shaped. They are arranged alternately on the stem. Leaves are dark green and smooth, with prominent parallel veins. Leaf margins are entire.
The flowers are bisexual, irregular, and arranged in a dense, spike-like inflorescence. They are yellow with red or purple bracts and are small and tubular. The spike can reach up to 25 cm in height. The base of the spike has white and green bracts, while the tips feature pink bracts.
Fruit is a capsule, containing several seeds. The capsule is usually not produced in cultivation as the plant is often harvested before flowering.
Flowering: May – June
Fruiting: Rarely observed in cultivation