Etlingera walang (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Etlingera walang (Blume) R.M. Smith
- Family: Zingiberaceae
Synonyms
- Achasma walang (Blume) Valeton,
- Amomum walang (Blume) Valeton,
- Donacodes walang Blume.
Vernacular names
- Indonesia: walang (Sundanese)
Distribution
Indonesia (West Java, probably only known from cultivation there, sometimes escaping).
Uses
The leaves are used as a condiment. The crushed leaves have an unpleasant odour which is like that of the rice bug Leptocorisa acuta ("walang sangit”). Historically more important is the practice in western Java of burning leaves on rice fields in order to repel that pest of rice.
Observations
- Perennial herb, 1.5-2 m tall, with slender rhizome and root system.
- Leaves distichous; petiole about 1 cm long; blade lanceolate, 30-50 cm × 5-6 cm, glabrous.
- Inflorescence head-like, ovoid-cylindrical, 5-7 cm × 2-3 cm; peduncle subterranean, up to 8 cm long, covered with scales 5 cm long; bracts narrowly lanceolate, outer ones up to 8 cm × 1 cm, inner ones smaller; bracteole tubular, very thin, 5 cm long.
- Calyx tubular, 7 cm long, 3-dentate; corolla tubular, with 3 red lobes; labellum yellow, 5 cm long; filament short, anther about 1 cm long; style 5-6 cm long, stigma faintly 2-horned.
- Fruit unknown.
Selected sources
- Burtt, B.L. & Smith, R.M., 1986. New combinations in Etlingera Giseke (Zingiberaceae). Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 43: 243-254.
- Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's‑Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).
- Valeton, T., 1904. Ueber neue und unvollständig bekannte Zingiberaceae aus West-Java und Buitenzorg [About new and uncompletely known Zingiberaceae from West-Java and Buitenzorg]. Bulletin de l'Institut Botanique de Buitenzorg 20: 1-99.
Authors
P.C.M. Jansen