华山姜 Alpinia oblongifolia

  • Scientific Name: Alpinia oblongifolia Hayata
  • Ref: Icon. Pl. Formosan. 5: 215. 1915
  • Synonym: Alpinia suishaensis Hayata; Languas oblongifolia (Hayata) Sasaki; L. suishaensis (Hayata) Sasaki
  • English Common Name: Chinese alpinia
  • Chinese Common Name: 华山姜 Huá shānjiāng
  • Japanese Common Name: スイシャゲットウ [水社月桃] suishagettō
  • Family: Zingiberaceae
  • Genus: Alpinia
  • Distribution: Forests; 100–2500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Laos, Vietnam].
  • Photo: 06/29/2018, Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang
  • Note: Japanese common name is named after Shuishe, west lakeshore of Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan.
Pseudostems ca. 1 m. Ligule 4--10 mm, membranous, margin ciliate; petiole ca. 5 mm; leaf blade oblong, ovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 20--30 × 3--10 cm, glabrous, base rounded or attenuate, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate. Panicles narrow, 15--30 × 2--2.5 cm; branches 3--10 mm, 2--4-flowered; bracteoles 1--3 mm, deciduous. Pedicel to 1 mm. Calyx tubular, 5--7 mm, apex 3-toothed. Corolla tube slightly longer than calyx; lobes oblong, 6--7 mm. Lateral staminodes subulate, 1--2 mm. Labellum white with 2 red stripes from base to middle, ovate, 6--8 mm, apex 2-lobed. Filament ca. 5 mm; anther ca. 3 mm. Ovary glabrous. Capsule red, globose, 5--8 mm in diam. Seeds 5--8. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jun--Dec. 2 n = 48*. (Flora of China)

Comments

  1. Is the plants rhizomes ever used as a food item or as a Spice with foodstuffs ? Can the leaves be used medicinally applied externally to wounds or lacerations or abcesses to detoxify infected wounds? Or to promote healing of wounds.?

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