CREPE GINGER (Costus Speciousus)
Despite the name, it is a very distant relative of the edible ginger. It’s stalk tend to curve spirally from underground tubers to a height of about 3 m ; these then produce large brownish-red bracts , resembling small pineapples, from which emerge the delicate frilly white flowers. The three true petals of each flower are inconspicuous, almost hidden by the large crepy white stamen which takes a bell form with fluted edged and a yellow throat. This yellow base forms a platform for the large female Carpenter bees which visits it. The young shoots may be eaten as a vegetable. The starchy rhizome is edible but fibrous, tasting watery with a hint of ginger.
The Crepe Ginger prefers a protected jungle-like environment and can be found growing wild throughout South East Asia, its native region. It flowers most profusely during the rainy season.
Unlike many members of the ginger family, the plant has no aromatic smell but contains the steroid diosgenin, which can be used as a raw material in the production of synthetic sex hormones. In Malaysia, the plant is used medicinally by the Malays as a purgative or poultice, and for coughs, fever, leprosy and small pox. It is even used as a neutralized for blood poisoning. In India, the plant is used to treat colds, pneumonia and rheumatism. In Java, it is used to treat dysentery, eye complaints and syphilis.
Do you know ... Malays consider it the chief magic plant - when it is used medicinally, it works upon evil spirits that have taken possession of the body.
The Crepe Ginger prefers a protected jungle-like environment and can be found growing wild throughout South East Asia, its native region. It flowers most profusely during the rainy season.
Unlike many members of the ginger family, the plant has no aromatic smell but contains the steroid diosgenin, which can be used as a raw material in the production of synthetic sex hormones. In Malaysia, the plant is used medicinally by the Malays as a purgative or poultice, and for coughs, fever, leprosy and small pox. It is even used as a neutralized for blood poisoning. In India, the plant is used to treat colds, pneumonia and rheumatism. In Java, it is used to treat dysentery, eye complaints and syphilis.
Do you know ... Malays consider it the chief magic plant - when it is used medicinally, it works upon evil spirits that have taken possession of the body.