Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/509

oblong, bracts l-l½in., closely imbricate, ovate-oblong, tip rounded, glabrous, green, bright-red in fruit. Margins membranous. Calyx-tube lin., appressed to the corolla-tube, 3-toothed, glabrous. Corolla-tube 1-1¼in., segments ovate-lanceolate, acuminate ; lateral smaller, adnate to the base of the lip. Lip shorter than the corolla-segments, 3-fid ; lobes obtuse, median, longest ; anthers glabrous. Style glabrous; stigma minute, funnel-shaped; mouth ciliate. Fruit lin., long, oblong. Seeds 1/6in., long, oblong, black. Flowers very pale, the lip rather darker.

Uses : — This wild ginger has the aromatic flavour of Z. Officinale, mixed with some bitterness. The rhizome is used like the officinal ginger. It is employed as a hot remedy for coughs, asthma, " special diseases," worms, leprosy and other skin diseases. (Baden-Powell.)

Sans. : — Van-ardraka.

Vern. :— Ban-âdâ (H. & B.) ; Nisa, Malabari halad (Mar.) ; Kâru allamu, Kûra pasupu, Karpushpaî (Tel.).

Habitat : — From the Himalaya to Ceylon and Malay Peninsula, Konkan. Southern Maratha Country, Western Ghats, Kanara, widely cultivated.

Root-stock perennial, bright-yellow inside. Leafy stem 4-6ft. Leaves 12-18 by 2-3in., oblong-lanceolate, pubescent beneath. Spike oblong, 4-6in. l½-2in. diam. ; peduncle 3-12in. ; bracts ovate, l-l½in. and nearly as broad, bright-red or greenish-red, or reddish. Corolla-segment whitish ; lip un- spotted, yellowish-white, with a deeply bifid, ¾in., broad and long, mid-lobe basal; auricles large, oblong, obtuse. Corolla-tube as long as the bract ; segments lin., upper broader and more concave. Stamen yellowish-white, shorter than the lip. Capsule small, globose.

Uses : — It has a similar reputation to the officinal ginger, and in the Konkans is considerably used as carminative stimulant in diarrhœa and colic, (Dymock.)