White ginger (Hedychium coronarium)

Gandasuli or white ginger (Hedychium coronarium) is a species of plant in the Zingiberaceae, a creeping rhizome with white flowers, a spice commonly found in humid places and near watercourses in lowlands up to 1900 meters, widely used for medicinal purposes.

H. coronarium has a trunk that is modified into a rhizome to propagate and branch below the soil surface. Roots and shoots grow from the fleshy segments of the rhizome. The shoot grows upwards with a pseudo-stem that comes from the leaf midrib.

White ginger has a height of 1-2 meters with a sitting leaf, lanceolate, 7-55 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, a large bone in the middle, pointed tip and green. Compound inflorescences with white crowns and a strong fragrance.

The flowers are extracted into essential oils as fragrant oil seeds. Rhizome has a bitter and warm taste when swallowed. Its chemical constituents include glucose, albumin, resin, cellulose and various organic acids.

Gandasuli is used for diaphoretics and stomakics, to cure various diseases such as headaches, colds, tonsils, indigestion, irregular menstruation, puerperal fever, rheumatism, aches and pains and bruises.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Hedychium
Species: Hedychium coronarium
Subspecies: Hedychium coronarium ssp. coronarium, Hedychium coronarium ssp. flavescens

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