Wurfbainia vera | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Zingiberales |
Family: | Zingiberaceae |
Genus: | Wurfbainia |
Species: | W. vera |
Binomial name | |
Wurfbainia vera | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Wurfbainia vera is a herbaceous plant in the Zingiberaceae family. Formerly called Amomum verum, it was the first plant species to be named by a woman, the Scots artist Elizabeth Blackwell in 1757. The Kingdom of Siam [lower-alpha 1] obtained the fruit (seeds) of the plant from Cambodia in the 18th century to export as a spice to China and Europe. The species occurs not only in Cambodia, but also in Sumatra, Thailand and Vietnam. The young leaf, the fruit and the seeds are edible, the seeds are known as Siam cardamom in English.
The taxon has previously been known as Amomum verum, named in 1757 by Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-58), a Scottish artist and business operator. This is the first plant species to be named by a woman. [3] Blackwell is more well known now as a botanical illustrator, however her book Herbarium Blackwellianum contained a valid naming of this taxon. [4]
The current species was described by the Czech botanist Jana Škorničková (born 1975) and the Danish botanist Axel Dalberg Poulsen (born 1961) in 2018 in the journal Taxon. [5]
One of the botanists who described this species, Jana Škorničková, along with her colleagues with IUCN, describes this taxon as part of a species complex, which encompasses specimens from Thailand and Indonesia known as Wurfbainia testacea and Wurbainia compacta . The taxon may thus require resolution into a number of more restricted species.
The species grows as a herbaceous plant/herb, some 2–3 metres (6.6–9.8 ft) high. [6] As with other Zingiberaceae the plant consists of underground rhizomes, a pseudostem made of encircled leaf-sheaths and fruit. [7]
The species is native to an area from Sumatra to Southeast Asia. [2] Countries and regions where the taxa occurs are: Indonesia (Sumatra), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is common in Thailand and Cambodia, especially in the Cardamom Mountains. [6]
The plant grows in lowland evergreen and semi-deciduous forest. [1] It grows in dense forests of Cambodia and Thailand. [6]
The taxa is classified as Data Deficient by the IUCN; see above right. It is common over a very wide range, is in cultivation and some wild populations occur in protected areas (Cardamom Mountains Protected Forest, Cambodia and Khlong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand). [1] However this taxa may be resolved into a number of species with a more restricted range. It is this that has led to the conservation classification.
The plant is used as a food and in medicine. [1] In Cambodia the young leaves are consumed in Sâmlâ ("Cambodian curries"). [6] The rhizomes, fruit and seeds are edible, with the seeds being used as a spice. Amongst households harvesting forest plants from Nam Nao National Park, Thailand, this species represented about 6% of the income earned from the sale of herbs and spices. [8] As well as a direct food source, W. vera is used as a fermentation starter in traditional rice wine production in Cambodia. [9]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kingdom of Siam maintained a political and economic hegemony/network in northwest Cambodia, ensuring a supply of a variety of products, including this spice species, to export to China and Europe. [10]
In the Khmer medical text The Treatment of Four Diseases palm-leaf manuscript, written in the late 19th-early 20th century, the plant is used in 3 compounds to treat hernia/constipation/sharp pains/prolapsed uterus, leprosy-ulcers, and cerebral palsy. [11]
In Cambodian traditional medicine the rhizomes are considered stimulating and useful for fever. [6] The fruits were exported to Hong Kong, where in Chinese traditional medicine they were considered a remedy against all intestinal troubles. The seeds were exported to Europe, where in older medical practice they were used against stomachache and as a tonic. Fruits are "[e]xported to Europe where it is used to flavour sausages and cordials." [12] The fruit and young leaves "gives a nice flavour". [7] Eastern Thai people use it to treat dyspepsia and flatulence caused by indigestion, in food products as a flavouring agent, and in the pharmaceutical industry in aromatherapy products for skin stimulation and as a bath product "for skin". [7] As of October 2020 there were two commercially available Traditional Chinese Medicine formulations containing W. vera, among many other ingredients, used in the management of viral pneumonia in China. [13]
Note: while there are a number of active ingredients present in the plant, the medical and pharmaceutical claims do not appear to have direct evidence.
Zingiberaceae or the ginger family is a family of flowering plants made up of about 50 genera with a total of about 1600 known species of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Many of the family's species are important ornamental, spice, or medicinal plants. Ornamental genera include the shell gingers (Alpinia), Siam or summer tulip, Globba, ginger lily (Hedychium), Kaempferia, torch-ginger Etlingera elatior, Renealmia, and ginger (Zingiber). Spices include ginger (Zingiber), galangal or Thai ginger, melegueta pepper, myoga, korarima, turmeric (Curcuma), and cardamom.
Cardamom, sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are recognized by their small seed pods: triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery outer shell and small, black seeds; Elettaria pods are light green and smaller, while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown.
Amomum subulatum, also known as black cardamom, hill cardamom, Bengal cardamom, greater cardamom, Indian cardamom, Nepal cardamom, winged cardamom, big cardamon, or brown cardamom, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Zingiberaceae. Its seed pods have a strong, camphor-like flavour, with a smoky character derived from the method of drying.
Galangal is a common name for several tropical rhizomatous spices.
Boesenbergia rotunda, commonly known as Chinese keys, fingerroot, lesser galangal or Chinese ginger, is a medicinal and culinary herb from China and Southeast Asia. In English, the root has traditionally been called fingerroot, because the shape of the rhizome resembles that of fingers growing out of a center piece.
Amomum is a genus of plants containing about 111 species native to China, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland. It includes several species of cardamom. Plants of this genus are remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties.
Alpinia galanga, a plant in the ginger family, bears a rhizome used largely as an herb in Unani medicine and as a spice in Arab cuisine and Southeast Asian cookery. It is one of four plants known as "galangal". Its common names include greater galangal, lengkuas, and blue ginger.
Cardamom may refer to:
Pearic peoples refers to indigenous groups, including the Pear, Chong, Samray, Suoy and Sa'och, which speak one of the Pearic languages and live a sparse existence after years of conflict in Cambodia and Thailand. Pearic groups speak different, but closely related, languages and share many cultural traits that differ markedly from the dominant Khmer and Thai cultures.
Aframomum corrorima is a species of flowering plant in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It's a herbaceous perennial that produces leafy stems 1–2 meters tall from rhizomatous roots. The alternately-arranged leaves are dark green, 10–30 cm long and 2.5–6 cm across, elliptical to oblong in shape. Pink flowers are borne near the ground and give way to red, fleshy fruits containing shiny brown seeds, which are typically 3–5 mm in diameter.
Aframomum is a genus of flowering plants in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is widespread across tropical Africa as well as on some islands of the Indian Ocean. It is represented by approximately 50 species. Its species are perennials and produce colorful flowers. Several aromatic species with essential oils present in fruits, seeds, leaves, stems, rhizomes, and other plant parts are either edible or used as medicine in Africa.
Lanxangia tsao-ko, formerly Amomum tsao-ko, and also known as black cardamom, is a ginger-like plant known in English by the transliterated Chinese name. It grows at high altitudes in Yunnan, as well as the northern highlands of Vietnam. Both wild and cultivated plants are used medicinally and also in cooking. The dried fruit of the plant has a pungent, gingery taste.
Wurfbainia villosa, also known by its basionym Amomum villosum, is a plant in the ginger family which is grown as a cardamom-like spice throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Like cardamom, the plant is cultivated for its fruits, dry capsules containing strongly aromatic seeds. W. villosa is an evergreen monocotyledonous plant 1.5 to 3.0 m in height, the branches and leaves of which are similar to those of ginger. It grows in the shade of trees and has a reproductive peculiarity whereby those flowers borne on creeping growth at ground level will set fruit, while those borne on aerial branches will not. It blooms in March and April, the colour, translucency and waxy lustre of the flowers being likened traditionally to those of white jade.
Wurfbainia is an Asian genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. Species in this genus have been recorded from the Himalayas, South China, Indo-China and Western & Central Malesia. It has previously been placed as a synonym of Amomum.
Cinnamomum cambodianum is a non-scented species of cinnamon, native and endemic to Cambodia. Commonly referred to as Cambodia cinnamon, C. cambodianum is an evergreen tree with a large, dense crown, growing 15–25 metres tall. The straight, cylindrical bole can grow to 30–80 cm in diameter.
Amomum ovoideum is a widespread shade-demanding rhizomatous herb of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) native to Southeast Asia. The plant bears fruits up to 2 cm (0.79 in) long, covered by slender, soft, red spines. When dried, the fruit produces cardamom seedpods similar to other cardamom spice plants.
Wurfbainia elegans is a species of plant belonging to Zingiberaceae, the ginger family. It is endemic to the Philippines.
The dog teak or Nepali elephant apple is a small tree with tortuous twigs, Dillenia pentagyna is a member of the family Dilleniaceae, and is found from Sulawesi to South-Central China to India and Sri Lanka. Material from the tree has some minor uses.
Newmania is a genus of rhizomatous based flowering plants belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. They are only native to Vietnam, and found in forests.
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