White ginger (Hedychium coronarium)

Gandasuli or white ginger (Hedychium coronarium) is a species of plant in the Zingiberaceae, a creeping rhizome with white flowers, a spice commonly found in humid places and near watercourses in lowlands up to 1900 meters, widely used for medicinal purposes.

H. coronarium has a trunk that is modified into a rhizome to propagate and branch below the soil surface. Roots and shoots grow from the fleshy segments of the rhizome. The shoot grows upwards with a pseudo-stem that comes from the leaf midrib.

White ginger has a height of 1-2 meters with a sitting leaf, lanceolate, 7-55 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, a large bone in the middle, pointed tip and green. Compound inflorescences with white crowns and a strong fragrance.

The flowers are extracted into essential oils as fragrant oil seeds. Rhizome has a bitter and warm taste when swallowed. Its chemical constituents include glucose, albumin, resin, cellulose and various organic acids.

Gandasuli is used for diaphoretics and stomakics, to cure various diseases such as headaches, colds, tonsils, indigestion, irregular menstruation, puerperal fever, rheumatism, aches and pains and bruises.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Hedychium
Species: Hedychium coronarium
Subspecies: Hedychium coronarium ssp. coronarium, Hedychium coronarium ssp. flavescens

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations, ...

Six new species forming the Sumbana species group in genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 from Indonesia

NEWS - Sumbawa longhorn ( Nemophora sumbana Kozlov, sp. nov.), Timor longhorn ( Nemophora timorella Kozlov, sp. nov.), shining shade longhorn ( Nemophora umbronitidella Kozlov, sp. nov.), Wegner longhorn ( Nemophora wegneri Kozlov, sp. nov.), long brush longhorn ( Nemophora longipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.), and short brush longhorn ( Nemophora brevipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.) from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two parallel, linear oceanic island chains, including Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Sawu, Timor, Alor, and Tanimbar. The oldest of these islands have been continuously occurring for 10–12 million years. This long period of isolation has allowed significant in situ diversification, making the Lesser Sundas home to many endemic species. This island chain may act as a two-way filter for organisms migrating between the world's two great biogeographic regions, Asia and Australia-Papua. The recognition of a striking cli...

Perlis fairy lantern (Thismia perlisensis) resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm.

NEWS - Perlis fairy lantern ( Thismia perlisensis Besi & Rusea sp. nov.) was discovered during a scientific expedition in a wetland forest at the foot of a limestone hill, Perlis State Park, resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley (1905) and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm. (1910), but has a prominent reddish dome-shaped annulus. Thismia perlisensis can be easily distinguished from T. arachnites and T. javanica by its blood-red dome-shaped annulus (vs. ring-like with a rim, orange annulus), prominent trilobed stigma with bifid and subulate lobes 1.8 mm long (vs. oblong, truncated stigma), and claviform apex of inner tepal appendage (vs. subulate apex of inner tepal appendage). Stenoendemic to northern Peninsular Malaysia, Perlis State and possibly Langkawi Island. Although there have been sightings of the plant on Langkawi Island, this location is based solely on photos posted on social media. There are currently no specimens or additional information to confirm. The new species grows in...

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