Alpinia officinarum Health Dictionary

Hance

Family: Zingiberaceae.

Habitat: Native to China; cultivated in northern India.

English: Lesser Galangal, Alpinia, Catarrh Root, Chinese Ginger.

Ayurvedic: Kulanjan (var.). Unani: Khulanjaan (smaller var.). Siddha/Tamil: Chitrarattai.

Action: Rhizome—a circulatory stimulant and carminative.

Key application: As a carminative.

(The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia.)

Aqueous and methanolic extracts of the rhizome, on oral administration, exhibited significant decrease in gastric secretion in rabbits and showed anticholinergic effect in pylorus-ligated rats.

Flavones from rhizomes are strongly antifungal against a wide variety of pathogenic fungi, responsible for major skin diseases in eastern India. Flavones were also found to be active against a number of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

The gingerols and diaryheptanoids constituents of the rhizome are potent inhibitors of PG synthetase (prosta- glandin biosynthesizing enzyme); they can also be active against 5-lipoxyge- nase, an enzyme involved in leuko- triene biosynthesis. (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, 2007.)