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Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd. (Zingiberaceae)

(Syns.: A. alba (Retz.) Roscoe; A. bifida Warb.; A. carnea Griff.; Zingiber galanga (L.) Stokes)

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Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants

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Abstract

A ginger -like perennial herb is native to Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Java, and Sumatra. It is known in China by the same names as the lesser Galangal , and also Greeks, Arabs and Persian do not distinguish it from the latter. The rhizomes are aromatic, refrigerant, mouth-freshener, detergent, stomachic and carminative, and are considered cardiac, liver and gastric tonic, used in dyspepsia, gastralgia, as a fragrant adjunct to cough and digestive mixtures, useful in rheumatism, catarrhal affections, diabetes insipidus, and as aphrodisiac. Its slight irritant action on the gastric mucosa may produce a reflex increase in bronchial secretions, and due to the excretion of the oil through lungs it acts as an expectorant, and thus its use in various pulmonary ailments. Use of A. galanga in honey lessened the paroxysm of whooping cough in children, and relieved the distressing symptoms in young children suffering from bronchitis. Application on the face of a paste made by rubbing the rhizome with oil or water is claimed to remove freckles. Rhizomes contain tannins, coumarins, flavonoids, sterols, and glycosides. Leaf and flower essential oils mainly contain 1,8-cineole, α-terpineol, (E)-methyl cinnamate, terpinen-4-ol, camphor , and α- and β-pinenes. Methanol rhizome extract administration to male rats daily for eight-weeks significantly increased serum testosterone, sperm count, sperm viability and motility, whereas ethanol extract daily for 90-days significantly increased RBC counts, sex organs weight, sperm count and motility in male mice. The rhizome EO shows strong and rapid bactericidal activity against a number of Gram-negative and Gram-positive food-borne bacteria, yeast and a number of dermatophytes.

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  1. Stockton, CA, USA

    Shahid Akbar

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Akbar, S. (2020). Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd. (Zingiberaceae). In: Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_19

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