Alpinia oxyphylla Miq., J. Bot. Neerl. 1: 93 (1861)

Synonyms
Amomum amarum F.P.Sm.
Languas oxyphylla (Miq.) Merr.

Diagnostics
A ginger up to about 3 m tall. Leaves alternate, dagger-shaped. The inflorescence appear in the leaf axils near the top of the stem, and is first covered by a bract which brakes loose from the base when the inflorescence starts expanding. Flowers developing from base to top and arranged in a cone shape, flowers are white with reddish stripes on the inside.

Description
Pseudostems 1-3 m. Ligule brownish, 2-cleft, 1-2 cm, rarely longer, membranous, sparsely puberulent; petiole short; leaf blade lanceolate, 25-35 x 3-6 cm, base subrounded, margin hispid, glabrescent, apex attenuate, caudate. Racemes enclosed in bud by a hat-shaped involucral bract deciduous at anthesis; rachis very shortly puberulent. Pedicel 1-2 mm. Calyx tubular, ca. 1.2 cm, split to middle on 1 side, abaxially pubescent, apex 3-toothed. Corolla tube 8-10 mm; lobes oblong, ca. 1.8 cm, central one white, wider than lateral ones, abaxially sparsely puberulent. Lateral staminodes subulate, ca. 2 mm. Labellum white with red stripes, obovate, ca. 2 cm, apical margin crisped. Filament ca. 1.2 cm; anther ca. 7 mm. Ovary densely tomentose. Capsule globose when fresh, fusiform when dry, 1.5-2 x ca. 1 cm, with elevated, vascular stripes, pubescent, apex with persistent calyx. Seeds irregularly oblate; aril brownish. [from Flora of China]

Ecology
Forest understorey.

Uses
Both wild and cultivated plants are used for medicine. To warm the spleen, relieve diarrhea and arrest excessive discharge of saliva, and to warm the kidney, and arrest seminal discharge and abnormal urination.

Distribution
Southern China and Hainan.

Local names
China: Yi Zhi.
English: Sharp leaf galangal.