{"id":10797,"date":"2010-02-08T14:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deinayurveda.net\/wordpress\/?p=10797"},"modified":"2010-02-11T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-11T11:02:15","slug":"galganal-tcm-western-plants-in-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deinayurveda.net\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/galganal-tcm-western-plants-in-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Galangal, TCM, Western Plants in Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alpinia<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

><\/span>Bencao Gangmu Medicine Compendium <<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n

><\/span> <\/span><\/span>Z<\/span><\/span>hejiang U<\/span><\/span>niversity (ZJNU)<\/span><\/span><\/span><<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

><\/span><\/span> G<\/span>ALGANT ,<\/span> HILDEGARD\u00b4s MEDICINE<\/span><\/span> <<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

><\/span><\/span> L<\/span>I SHI Z<\/span>EN PRIVATUNIVERSITÄT<\/span><\/span> <\/span><<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

><\/span><\/span> Z<\/span>ingiber off. – Naturheilkunde EU(+Yoga) <\/span><<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

><\/span> <\/span>T<\/span>CM m<\/span>it westlichen Pflanzen<\/span><\/span> <<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

><\/span> <\/span>Kleiner Galgant, Chinesisch \u5c71\u5948<\/span><\/span> <\/span><<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Galangal plant (Galanga, Blue Ginger) is a rhizome with culinary and medicinal uses. (Lao: \u0e82\u0ec8\u0eb2 „Kha“; Thai: \u0e02\u0e48\u0e32 „Kha“; Malay: lengkuas (Alpinia galangal); Traditional Mandarin: \u5357\u8591 or \u9ad8\u826f\u8591; Simplified Mandarin: \u5357\u59dc or \u9ad8\u826f\u59dc; Cantonese: lam keong, \u85cd\u8591; Vietnamese: Ri\u1ec1ng).<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It is used in various oriental cuisines (for example in Thai cuisine Tom Yum soups and Dtom Kha Gai, Vietnamese Huenian cuisine (Tre) and throughout Indonesian cuisine, for example, in Soto). Though it is related to and resembles ginger, there is little similarity in taste. Alpinia galanga is also known as Chewing John, Little John Chew and galanga root. It is used in African-American folk medicine. R<\/span><\/strong>ead More:<\/strong> <\/span><\/span>> Here <<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

L<\/strong>esser galangal or Alpinia officinarum<\/strong> (synonym Languas officinarum) is a plant in the ginger family and native to China, growing mainly on the southeast coast. It is also grown in India which is the second largest exporter of the rhizome. The rhizome was widely used in ancient and medieval Europe. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The rhizome is smaller than greater galangal. The skin and the flesh are reddish brown whereas greater galangal has light yellow or white flesh. It was preferred to greater galangal because of its stronger, sweeter taste with notes of cinnamon. Its use in Europe has dramatically declined, however, and is now only used in Eastern Europe. It is used in Russia for flavoring vinegar and the liqueur Nastoika. It is still used as a spice and medicine in Lithuania and Estonia. In Central Asia, Tartars prepare a kind of tea that contains it. The spice used in South Eastern Asia which often goes by the name of „Lesser Galangal“ is actually Kaempferia galanga.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The word lesser galangal properly refers to Alpinia officinarum. In common usage, however, it is also applied to Kaempferia galanga, also called Kencur, Sand ginger, Aromatic Ginger or Resurrection Lily. Kaempferia Galanga, which is grown for medicine and as a spice, is an almost stemless plant that develops its few short-lived leaves and the flower at ground level, whereas the stem of A. officinarum is two to four feet high.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

G<\/strong>al<\/strong>angal<\/strong> appears to have been used in China during antiquity. It is mentioned in the Ayur-Vedas of Susrutas<\/strong>, also by Plutarch. The Arabian physicians<\/strong> used it for medicinal purposes and thus, no doubt, assisted in its introduction into western Europe. Thus Rhazes, Avicenna, Alkindi and other physicians who lived during the 9. and 10. centuries, mention galangal in their writings as an esteemed remedy. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Its importation is reported in the 9. century by the Arabian<\/strong> geographer Ibn Kurdadbah, and in the beginning of the 12. century by the Sicilian geographer Edrisi, In the Delia decima etc., a commercial treatise of the first half of the 14. century by the Florentine merchant Pegolotti, galangal is described as occuring in two varieties, viz., the light and the heavy.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Marco Polo reports on the cultivation of the plant in China<\/strong> and Java<\/strong>. In 1563 Garcia da Orta, a physician in Goa, describes two varieties of galangal, a smaller variety coming from China, and a larger one from Java. The first good illustration was published by Rumpf in 1754.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In German literature the rhizome is found as early as the 8. century and is mentioned as a medicinal drug. Galangal also occurs as one of the ingredients of a prescription found in a medical manuscript of the 8. century in the library of the University of Würzburg. It is also mentioned in a formulary of the 9. century by Bishop Salomo III of Constance. Its medicinal virtues are praised by Matthseus Platearius, a Salernitan scientist of the 12. century, and by Hildegard<\/strong>, abbess of Bingen<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Galangal found a place in the Dispensatorium Nor\/cum, but its volatile oil appears to have been distilled later. It is first mentioned in the municipal price ordinance of Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1587. OIL OF GINGER.<\/strong> Ginger appears to have been used as a spice by the Chinese<\/strong> and the Indians<\/strong>. It is mentioned repeatedly in Chinese medical<\/strong> treatises, in the <\/span>> <\/span>AYUR-Vedas of SUSRUTA<\/strong> <<\/span><\/a><\/span> , also in Sanscrit literature and later in the Talmud<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Greeks and Romans <\/strong>obtained ginger via the Red Sea and hence regarded Arabia<\/strong> as its geographic source. In the 3. century, however, it was counted among the Indian products brought via the Red Sea and Alexandria. Ginger was one of the favorite spices of the Romans. Apparently it was introduced into Germany and France during the 9. century and into England during the 10. century.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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A better understanding as to the geographical source of ginger was obtained by Marco Polo, Pegolotti, Barbosa and Niccolo Conti on their voyages along the coast and among the islands of southwestern Asia. As early as the 13. century ginger entered the market either fresh (zenzeri verdi), preserved with sugar (giengiaro confetto) or dried. For a long time Alexandria was the principal port for the purchase of this delicacy. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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R<\/span>EFERENCE BOOK: Title The Volatile Oils Vol1, Author E. Gildemeister, Publisher John Wiley And Sons, Year 1913, Copyright 1913, E. Gildemeister Amazon ><\/span> The Volatile Oils <<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n