Genus Alpinia Research Articles

Revision of putative Alpinia (Zingiberaceae) fossils from the Paleogene and Neogene of western Europe

The fossil floras described by Dieter Mai and Harald Walther are invaluable for understanding the past plant diversity in Europe, and provide important information on the occurrence of taxa in the fossil record that is critical for evolutionary studies. Among the taxa they recognized were seeds assigned to the extant genus Alpinia Roxb. (Zingiberaceae, Zingiberales). We reinvestigated 28 specimens that were assigned to Alpinia arnensis (Chandler) Mai, Alpinia cf. arnensis, and Alpinia bivascularis Mai from the Ypresian (lower Eocene) of the UK, upper Eocene of Germany, and lower Miocene of Germany using non-destructive synchrotron-based X-ray tomography to reveal internal anatomy. None of the samples studied show an anatomy consistent with extant Alpinia or even Zingiberales. The fossils lack the globose shape, often striate external surface, seed coat structure, operculum, and micropylar collar seen in all Alpinia, and lack the chalazal chamber seen in many Alpinia species. Two specimens from the lower Miocene of Germany showed the structure of fruits of Caricoidea Chandler (Cyperaceae) with a single-layered exocarp, thick mesocarp, and sclerified endocarp. The other specimens are recognized as Carpolithes albolutum nom. nov. (incertae sedis) from the Ypresian of the UK, C. phoenixnordensis sp. nov. (incertae sedis) from the upper Eocene of Germany, C. bivascularis comb. nov. (incertae sedis) from the lower Miocene of Germany as well as indeterminate tegmens from the lower Miocene of Germany. This reinvestigation demonstrates that there is, as yet, no confirmed fossil record for the extant genus Alpinia. Furthermore, at least four different taxa are recognized from what had been two extinct species, enhancing our understanding of these important European Cenozoic carpofloras.

Taxonomy and Systematic Analysis of the Two Genera Alpinia and Amomum of the Family Zingiberaceae in Sri Lanka

Alpinia and Amomum are the largest two genera that list the highest number of endemics offamily Zingiberaceae in Sri Lanka. The family is recognized as a least studied plant group inthe country, justifying the need for a thorough study. Hence, it is timely that the family istaken into consideration of molecular and systematic studies given new techniques areavailable. As a pioneering step, in this study, we addressed several taxonomic issues,phylogenetic relationships and conservational status of Alpinia and Amomum. In order tocollect more morphological data to address species boundaries with better insights, over 130morphological characters were studied and analysed using multivariate statistical methods.Molecular phylogenetic analysis was done using two Chloroplast gene regions (trnL-trnF andtrnS-trnfM). Results of the morphological analysis revealed the segregation of species ratherdepending on both vegetative and floral characters than only on floral characters. Study alsoidentified a group of Amomum with a new character combination which needs to berecognized as a new species or subspecies along with a new addition to genus Alpinia (A.zerumbet) in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, in our efforts to make a field key for easy identificationof species, results of this study also highlighted the difficulty in using only vegetativecharacters to differentiate species. Hence, the study has resulted in identifying a different andan easy set of morphological characters for species identification for Sri Lankan species.Evolutionary analysis of the two genera confirms that the Sri Lankan members of the twogenera Alpinia and Amomum have a monophyletic origin. Although the genus Alpinia has amonophyletic lineage, two members (A. abundiflora and A. fax) show a polytomy within thegenus. This was evident in both phylogenetic analysis and the morphological analysis.According to trnL-trnF and trnS-trnƒM data analysis, all the studied members of the genusAmomum have an exclusive monophyletic origin. Illumination of an immediate need forconservation efforts of these species is another important finding of the current study.

Distribution of Alpinia (Zingiberaceae) and their use pattern in Vietnam

Genus Alpinia under the family Zingiberaceae is one of the important medicinal plants in Vietnam, which has a greater role in day to day life of Vietnamese people. Many species viz. Alpinia galanga, Alpinia oxyphylla and Alpinia conchigera are traditionally used in folk remedies to treat diseases like cold, stomachache, bloating, digestive disorders and joint pain and are very effective. Until now, there are many species used to treat incurable diseases such as fatty liver, cirrhosis of liver and cancer. The present paper deals with the distribution and traditional knowledge of different species of Alpinia among Vietnamese.

Alpinia: the gold mine of future therapeutics.

Since prehistoric era, plant-derived drugs were much preferred due to their less side effects than drugs of synthetic origin. Bioassay-guided selection of active fraction of a plant extract and further isolation and characterization of the pure bioactive compounds are in practice in both academic and industrial research. Zingiberaceae, a medicinally important, ornamental, monocotyledonous family has potential members in the tribe Alpinieae, among which the genus Alpinia is studied under this current review due to its wide range of biomedical applications. The members in the genus possess many bioactive compounds against harmful microbes to deadly diseases like cancer by regulating the different signalling pathway systems. Several compounds have been discovered and found to deliver diversified biological efficacy either in vitro or in vivo against a range of diseases. The chemical profiling of the genus and investigation of crude essential oils and individual bioactive compounds towards the therapeutic importance in various disciplines have been documented in the current review.

Therapeutic value of the genus Alpinia, Zingiberaceae

Plants containing bioactive substances have increasingly become the object of research studies, particularly those plants with therapeutic value. Many species of the genus Alpinia provide a variety of medicinal properties, such as, Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) Burtt et Smith and A. purpurata (Vieill) K. Schum, which have a significant presence in Brazil. These species have been commercialized in the food and cosmetic industries. However, their greatest importance arises from the medicinal properties of their essential oils containing flavonoids, terpenoids and kavalactones which have been used in folk medicine to treat, for example, arterial hypertension and inflammatory processes. In addition, such species are also used in multidisciplinary studies, including phytochemistry, ethnobotany and biology, indicating the key pharmacological role of this genus in everyday life. Therefore, this work aims to present a bibliographic review of the genus Alpinia and its significance in therapeutic applications.

Taxonomic Position of a Taiwanese Ceutorhynchine, Mecysmoderes consularis Pascoe (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), with Description of an Allied New Species from Lanhsu Island

Abstract The taxonomic position of Mecysmoderes consularis Pascoe (Mecysmoderini, subfamily Ceutorhynchinae) was studied. Based on morphological and biological reasons, M. consularis should be placed within the genus Xenysmoderes Colonnelli (also Mecysmoderini). The structures of the frons, prothorax, elytral intervals, and procoxae of X. consularis (Pascoe), new combination, agree well with those of Xenysmoderes species. The host plant association with the genus Alpinia Roxburgh (Zingiberales: Zingiberaceae) indicate closer relation to Xenysmoderes, which is associated with Costaceae (Zingiberales), rather than to Mecysmoderes Schoenherr, which is associated with trees of Ericaceae (Ericales). Xenysmoderes ruficollis, new species, is described from Lanhsu Island and is distinguished from X. consularis by the body coloration, pattern of scales, and shapes of male aedeagus and female spermatheca. Xenysmoderes consularis and X. ruficollis occur allopatrically, the former distributed in Taiwan proper and on ...

Abnormal flowers in genus Alpinia

There are six types of abnormal flowers in Alpinia described in this paper, namely 2‐stamens, 1.5‐stamen, 1‐stamen, stamen with only one theca, stamen absent and twin‐flower. A different morphological nature of subulate appendage is proposed: it might be the androecial appendage, i.e. appendage of stamen or labellum, but not of staminode. The second type of the abnormal flowers with 1.5‐stamen is regarded as synapomorphy, which is absent in the extant taxa, of the four ginger families, from which were derived the Zingiberaceae and Costaceae with one functional stamen or the Marantaceae and Cannaceae with half stamen. The diversification of the number of stamen in abnormal flowers might be a recurrence of the evolutionary history of stamen in ginger families.

RAPID RADIATION IN AFRAMOMUM (ZINGIBERACEAE):EVIDENCE FROM NUCLEAR RIBOSOMAL DNA INTERNAL TRANSCRIBED SPACER (ITS) SEQUENCES

Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) nrDNA sequences of 42 accessions (representing 28 species) of Aframomum revealed an unusually low level of sequence variation, suggesting a recent radiation of the genus in Africa. The sample of species analysed includes all the main morphological variation and is based on wide geographical sampling. The Aframomum sequences varied from 187bp to 190bp (ITS 1) and 215bp to 216bp (ITS 2). Pair-wise sequence difference between accessions varied from 0% (e.g. A. luteoalbum and A. thonneri) to 2.74% (e.g. A. sp. nov. B to A. pseudostipulare). This contrasts with a comparable data set for the SE Asian genus Alpinia in the same tribe (Alpineae) in which maximum pair-wise difference is six times greater (range 0.5–15.6%). A parsimony analysis of the in-group and out-group taxa supports the monophyly of the genus Aframomum, but does not resolve the relationships between the in-group species. Four putative multi-species groups, however, have some jackknife support. The species sampled vary greatly in vegetative, floral and fruit characters. This morphological variation is not reflected in the ITS sequence data. This may be a result of rapid radiation under conditions of Pleistocene climatic change and effective dispersal of seeds by primates.