Kingdom Plantae Family Zingiberaceae Scientific name Etlingera fulgens | Order Zingiberales Genus Etlingera Rank Species | |
 | ||
Similar Etlingera corneri, Etlingera hemisphaerica, Etlingera megalocheilos, Elettariopsis, Hornstedtia | ||
Etlingera fulgens is a species of herbaceous perennial plant of the Zingiberaceae family. This species occurs in southern Thailand and peninsular Malaysia. Due to its bright red flowers and young leaves, E. fulgens is used as an ornamental plant in landscape gardens.
Contents
Description
E. fulgens can be recognised by its shiny undulating leaves that are dark green in colour. When young, the undersides of its leaves are bright red in colour, turning greenish on maturing. In older leaves, only the petiole and midrib are red. Petioles are 1.5 to 2.0 cm in length. Rhizomes, 3 cm in diameter, occur just below the ground. The plant can grow up to 5 m tall. Crushed leaf sheaths emit a pleasant sour fragrance similar to that of Etlingera elatior. Inflorescences are raised above the ground and infructescences are globular in shape.
Chemistry
Leaves of E. fulgens displayed stronger ferrous ion-chelating ability than young leaves of Camellia sinensis. Chlorogenic acid found in leaves of E. fulgens was higher in content than Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle), the commercial source. Fruit and rhizome oils of E. fulgens are mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons with cyclododecane, dodecanol, and cyclotetradecane as main constituents. Oils of E. fulgens and E. elatior were very different in composition despite having very similar aroma. Oils of E. fulgens consist mainly of dodecyl acetate (21.6%), an ester, and pentadecanol (14.1%) and hexadecanol (3.60%), both long-chain alcohols.