Kaempferia galanga L.

Rhizomes pale green or greenish white inside, tuberous, fragrant. Leaves usually 2, spreading flat on ground, subsessile; leaf sheath 2--3 cm; leaf blade green, orbicular, 7--20 × 3--17 cm, glabrous on both surfaces or villous abaxially, margin usually white, apex mucronate or acute. Inflorescences terminal on pseudostems, enclosed by imbricate leaf sheaths, sessile, few to many flowered; bracts lanceolate, ca. 2.5 cm. Calyx equaling bracts. Corolla tube 2--2.5 cm; lobes white, linear, ca. 1.2 cm. Lateral staminodes obovate-cuneate, ca. 1.2 cm. Labellum ca. 2.5 × 2 cm, apex slightly 2-lobed or deeply 2-cleft; lobes white with purple markings at base. Anther sessile; connective appendage strongly reflexed, rectangular, 2-lobed. Fl. Aug--Sep.

A tropical plant. It grows in open areas in S China. It grows in open forests up to 1,000 m above sea level. It needs a temperature above 18°C. It needs a fertile soil. In Yunnan.

The rhizomes and leaves are eaten as a condiment. The rhizomes are dried and pounded and used as a substitute for turmeric. They are used in fish curries and also served as a raw vegetable. The rhizomes are also pickled. They are used to flavour rice. The young shoots are cooked as a vegetable.

It is grown from rhizome or tuber cuttings. It can be grown from seeds.