''Hedychium spicatum'' is a plant species native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

), the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, and

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.Flora of China v 24 p 373, 草果药 cao guo yao, ''Hedychium spicatum'' Smith in Rees, Cycl. 17: Hedychium no. 3. 1811.
/ref> ''Hedychium spicatum'' is a small, hardy perennial that grows to around , with green leaves and large orange and white flowers. It is also commonly known as spiked ginger lily, or perfume ginger.

Uses

The Indian medicinal system (Ayurveda) described the species as having pungent, light, bitter, strong, heating properties. The species is also an ingredient of some

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

(TCM),

traditional Tibetan medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan medical system developed in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen that incorporated the best international medical practices of that time.Claude Arpi, ''Glimpses on the Tibet History' ...

and

Unani medicine Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The term '' Yūnānī'' means 'Greek', re ...

. The powder and decoction of the rhizome are used for a variety of conditions. The rhizome is also chewed by the inhabitants of Uttarakhand to clean their mouths and freshen their breath. The fruit of this species may be cooked and eaten with lentils in savoury dishes. Crushed rhizomes, both fresh and dried, are very aromatic with a fragrant, somewhat pungent smell similar to orris root but more powerful. In Manipur, the rhizome is cooked to prepare chutney. "Abir", a fragrant coloured powder marketed for religious ceremonies, is prepared from its dried rhizomes. In Himachal Pradesh, leaves are used in making mats for the home, combined with wheat straw, enhancing the durability of the product. The aromatic dried root of this plant is often used as an incense in Ethiopia. The essential oil has a fragrance somewhat like hyacinths with a long-lasting scent.

References

External links

Flowers of India
Flora of China Flora of Assam (region) Flora of East Himalaya Flora of Nepal Flora of West Himalaya Flora of Myanmar Flora of Thailand Flora of Ethiopia Plants described in 1811 spicatum {{Zingiberales-stub