Sanskrit Name : Malayvacha
English Name : Greater Galangal
Latin Name : Alpinia galanga Pennel
Greater galangal grows to a height of 1.8 m and has long, elegant, blade-like leaves. The flowers are green and white with red tips. Rhizome is built up from cylindrical
subunits (circular cross-section), whose pale-reddish surface is characteristically cross-striped by reddish-brown, small rings. The interior has about the same colour as
the skin and is hard and woody in texture.
Application
Stimulant and carminative. It is especially useful in flatulence, dyspepsia, vomiting and sickness at stomach, being recommended as a remedy for seasickness. It tones
up the tissues and is sometimes prescribed in fever. The powder is sniffed in catarrh. Modern research has proved its bronchodilator property. Galangal is used in
cattle medicine, and the Arabs use it to make their horses fiery. It is included in several compound preparations, but is not now often employed alone.
Chemical Composition
The rhizome contains up to 1.5% essential oil (1,8 cineol, α-pinene, eugenol, camphor, methyl cinnamate and sesquiterpenes).
In dried galanga, the essential oil has quantitatively different composition than in fresh one. Whereas α-pinene, 1,8-cineol, α-bergamotene, trans-β-farnesene and
β-bisabolene seem to contribute to the taste of fresh galanga equally, the dried rhizome shows lesser variety in aroma components (cineol and farnesene, mostly). The
resin causing the pungent taste (formerly called galangol or alpinol) consists of several diarylheptanoids and phenylalkanones (the latter are also found in ginger and
grains of paradise). Furthermore, the rhizome is high in starch.
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