1262 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



1249. Alpinia Galanga, Sic, h.f.b.i., vi., 253. 



Sans. : — Dumparastma, kiilinjana. 



Vern. : — Kulanjan, bara-kulanjan, Bare va malabari-pan-ki- 

 jar (H.) ; kiilinjan (B.) ; Kolinjan (Guj.) ; Kosht-kulinjan (Mar.) ; 

 Kunjar, kathi (Sind.) ; Khulanjane-qasbi, khiilanjan-e-kabir 

 (Arab.) ; Khusrave-darue-kalan (Pers.) ; Pera-rattai (Tam.) ; 

 Pedda-dumpa-rash-trakam (Tel.) ; Peraratta (Mai.) ; Dumpa- 

 rasmi (Kan).) ; Padagoji (Burm.). 



Habitat • — Throughout India. 



Root-stock perennial, tuberous, slightly aromatic. Leafy stem 

 0-7ft. Leaves l-2ft. by 4-6in., green and glossy on both sides, 

 oblong-lanceolate, glabrous beneath. Panicle copiously com- 

 pound, (dense-fid) J-lft. ; rachis densely pubescent, branches 

 numerous, short ; pedicels i-g-in. ; bracts small, ovate. Flowers 

 small. Calyx greenish- white, ifin. oblique at the throat. Corolla- 

 segments i-Jin., linear, oblong, greenish-white. Lip obovate- 

 clawed, emarginate, white-veined, with lilac, Jin., 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 iin. 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 some- 

 times used as carminative or fragrant adjunct in complex pre- 

 scriptions, 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 en- 

 quiry 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, 



