Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/512
1249. Alpinia Galanga, Sw, h.f.b.i., vi., 253.
Sans. : — Dumparástma, kúlinjâna.
Vern. : — Kúlanján, bará-kúlanján, Bare vâ malabari-pán-ki-jar (H.) ; kúlinján (B.) ; Kolinjan (Guj.) ; Kosht-kulinján (Mar.) ; Kunjar, kathi (Sind.) ; Khúlánjáne-qasbi, khúlanján-e-kabir (Arab.) ; Khusrave-dârúe-kalán (Pers.) ; Pera-rattai (Tam.) ; Pedda-dumpa-rásh-trakam (Tel.) ; Peraratta (Mal.) ; Dumpa- rásmi (Kan).) ; Padagoji (Burm.).
Habitat: — Throughout India.
Root-stock perennial, tuberous, slightly aromatic. Leafy stem 6-7ft. Leaves l-2ft. by 4-6in., green and glossy on both sides, oblong-lanceolate, glabrous beneath. Panicle copiously compound, (dense-fid) ½-lft. ; rachis densely pubescent, branches numerous, short ; pedicels ⅜-1/6in. ; bracts small, ovate. Flowers small. Calyx greenish- white, ¼in. oblique at the throat. Corolla-segments ⅓-½in., linear, oblong, greenish-white. Lip obovate-clawed, emarginate, white-veined, with lilac, ½in., with a pair of linear, subulate, ascending, reddish glands at the base of the claw. Stamen arcuate, shorter than the lip. Ovules 1-2 in a cell. Fruit orange-red, roundish, about ⅓in. diam.
Uses : — The rhizomes of this species are aromatic, pungent, and bitter, and are used in the form of an infusion in fever, rheumatism, and catarrhal affections. As a drug, they are supposed to improve the voice. The aromatic tubers are sometimes used as carminative or fragrant adjunct in complex prescriptions, but they have nothing peculiar in their properties or action. (U. C. Dutt.) How far these properties may have been intended to be attributed to this root-stock or should have rather been given to A. officinarum, cannot be accurately determined. The statements of Indian authors have to be accepted for the present, but it seems probable that future enquiry may show that, while both the greater and the lesser galangals are regularly imported into India, as far as their medicinal properties are concerned, the former is only used as substitute for the latter, being commercially less valuable and less active in its therapeutic properties. It is, however,