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Botanical Name :
Amomum subulatum
Sanskrit name
:
Aindri, Sthula ela, Brihatupakunchika
English Name :
Larger
or Greater Cardamom, Nepal Cardamom
Family:
Zingiberaceae
Plant Part used:
Seed
Description
of Amomum subulatum:
It grows
wild in the eastern Himalayas and cultivated in West Bengal, Assam,
Sikkim and Nepal.It is a tall and perennial herb, with leafy stems.
Rhizomes are creeping and branched, with several erect leafy shoots and
panicles. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, 30-60 cm in length, glabrous
and the tip is acuminate. The spikes are globose, very dense, and
shortly peduncled. Calyx and corolla tube segments are sub-obtuse,
shorter than the tube and the upper one is cuspidate. Lip is
obovate-cuneate, emarginate, yellowish white and rather longer than the
corolla-segments. Capsules are 2.5 cm long, irregularly obcordate,
echinate, trilocular, dark red-brown in color, containing several
aromatic seeds in each cell and held together by a viscous sugary pulp.
The fruit is anterio-posteriorly flattened, having 15-20 irregular,
dentate-undulate wings which extend from the apex to downward for
two-thirds of its length. There are three well-known cultivated
varieties in Sikkim. |
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Constituents:
Cardmonin, Alpinetin and Subulin were
isolated from seeds. The major constituent of the essential oil from the
seeds is cineol (64.94 %).
Toxicology:
There is no adverse effect reported on usage of this plant.
Medicinal Uses:
Medicinally, the seeds are credited with stimulant and astringent
properties. It is used in gastrointestinal and genito-urinary
complaints.
Herbal Extract packing:
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