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- This is copied w/out permission from the book Plants of the Gods:
- (Schultes/Hoffman)<- yes, the Hoffman
-
- Kaempferia galanga is used as an hallucinogen in New Guinea. Throughout the
- range of this species, the highly aromatic rhizome is valued as a spice to
- flavor rice, and also in folk medicine as an expectorant and carminative.
- A tea of the leaves is employed for sore throat, swellings, rheumatism,
- and eye infections. In Malaysia, the plant was added to the arrow poison
- prepared from Antians toxicaria.
- This short-stemmed herb has flat-spreading, green, round leaves measuring
- 3-6 in. (8-15 cm) across. The white flowers (with a purple spot on the lip),
- which are fugacious, appear singly in the center of the plant and attain
- approximately 1 in. (2 1/2 cm) in breadth.
- Beyond the high content of essential oil in the rhizome, little is known of the
- chemistry of the plant. Hallucinogenic activity might possibly be due to
- constituents of the essential oils.
-
-
- another place in the book said this:
- common names:
- Galanga
- Maraba
-
- There are vague reports that Galanga is employed as an hallucinogen in New
- Guinea.
-
- The highly aromatic rhizome is valued locally as a condiment, a tea from the
- leaves is employed in folk medicine.
-
-
-
- Please let us know what you find out if you try this.
- p.s.
- I would not try this, although it appears the natives eat it to flavor
- their rice, so it is probably safe to try.
-
- ->- Chris Hooten (chooten@atlas.sdsu.edu)
-