Greater galangal (Alpinia galanga)

Lengkuas or galangal or greater galangal (Alpinia galanga) is a plant species in the Zingiberaceae, growing to a height of 3 meters or more, underground rhizomes and small adventitious roots, young stems emerge as shoots from the base of old stems, the entire stem is covered with leaf sheaths or stems pseudo.

A. galanga has leaves with short stalks, elongated lanceolate in shape, pointed tip, blunt base, flat edge, 25-50 cm long, 7-15 cm wide, 15-30 cm leaf midrib, grooved and green in color.

Compound inflorescence in bunches, long stalks, erect and gathered at the end of the stalk. There are more flowers at the bottom than at the top of the stalk so that they are in the shape of an elongated pyramid. Petals are bell-shaped and greenish-white.

The crown that is still a bud at the tip is white and the bottom is green. Flower lip has a length of 2.5 cm, white with a bright red oblique line on each side. The crown that is still in bud has a white color, while the base is green.

Buni fruit, round, hard, green when young and brown when old. The seeds are small, oval in shape, green when young and turn red, then black when old.

Tubers are white or red. Rhizome creeping, large, thick, fleshy, cylindrical, 2-4 cm in diameter and branching. The outer part is brown, slightly reddish or greenish yellow, the scales are white or reddish, hard and shiny. The inside is white.

The rhizome has a distinctive aroma, rough and spicy when it is old. The rhizome turns green, the fiber becomes hard and tough when dried. The taste is sharp, spicy, biting and smells good because of the essential oil content.

Galangal is a type of spice that is widely grown. Generally for a mixture of spices and traditional medicine. Utilization for cooking by beating the rhizome, then just dipping it into the cooking mixture, while for traditional medicine that is widely used is the red cultivar.

This species grows in open areas, in full sun or partial shade. Grows well in moist, loose soil. Grows poorly in flooded soils. It thrives in the lowlands to an elevation of 1200 meters. This plant grows wild in teak forests, pine forests or in shrubs.

The history of the cultivation and trading of spices originally took place on the island of Java. Galangal is still widely cultivated in Southeast Asia, especially in the Greater Sunda Islands and the Philippines. Cultivation has also spread to Southeast Asia, including Thailand.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Subfamily: Alpinioideae
Tribe: Alpinieae
Genus: Alpinia
Species: Alpinia galanga

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