Group: Monocot
Family: Zingiberaceae - Ginger family
Duration: Biennial
Growth Habit: Herb
Bangla/Vernacular Name: Soto Tara.
Tribal Name: Pley (Murang).
A rhizomatous herb with 60-120 cm high leafy stem. Leaves 15-30 cm long, lanceolate, acuminate, glossy. Flowers large, in a dense terminal panicles, up to 13.5 cm long. Lip ovate-oblong, yellow, streaked with purple veins.
Fresh rhizome yields essential oil (0.2%), which contains galangol, kaempferide, galangin and its methyl ether, camphor, cineole, methyl cinnamate, monoterpenes of a- and ß-pinene and limonene and sesquiterpenes. Constituents present in the rhizome include kaempferide, galangin and alpinin. Rhizome also contains glycosides, proteins, carbohydrates, resins, steroids, triterpenes and minerals. Seeds contain anti-ulcer principles, l-acetoxychavicol acetate, loacetoxyeugenol acetate, caryophyllene oxide, caryophyllenol I and II, pentadecane and fatty acid methyl esters.
An anti-microbial diterpene has been isolated from the rhizome (Ghani, 2003). The major component of the oil from Bangladeshi plants is a-fenchyl acetate (51.4%). Other notable new compounds are a-terpineol, carotol, camphene and D- limonene (Chowdhury et al., 2003).
Leaf and root extract is taken in paralysis. In addition paste of leaves and root applied to affected areas (Murang).
Occationally cultivated.
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