Wurfbainia vera

(Blackw.) Skornick. & A. D. Poulsen

Round siam cardamom

Zingiberaceae Edible: Fruit - spice 1 iNaturalist observations

wikimedia· cc0

Wikimedia Commons - Fumikas Sagisavas

Summary

Wurfbainia vera is a herbaceous plant in the Zingiberaceae family. Formerly called Amomum verum, it was the first plant species to be named by a woman, the Scots artist Elizabeth Blackwell in 1757. The Kingdom of Siam obtained the fruit (seeds) of the plant from Cambodia in the 18th century to export as a spice to China and Europe. The species occurs not only in Cambodia, but also in Sumatra, Thailand and Vietnam. The young leaf, the fruit and the seeds are edible, the seeds are known as Siam cardamom in English.

Description

A ginger family herb. The leafy shoots can be 3 m tall. It has an underground stem or rhizome. The flowers are small and white in a cluster. The fruit are small and reddish.

Edible Uses

The fruit are used as a spice.

Medicinal Uses

The plant is used as a food and in medicine. In Cambodia the young leaves are consumed in Sâmlâ ("Cambodian curries"). The rhizomes, fruit and seeds are edible, with the seeds being used as a spice. Amongst households harvesting forest plants from Nam Nao National Park, Thailand, this species represented about 6% of the income earned from the sale of herbs and spices. As well as a direct food source, W. vera is used as a fermentation starter in traditional rice wine production in Cambodia. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kingdom of Siam maintained a political and economic hegemony/network in northwest Cambodia, ensuring a supply of a variety of products, including this spice species, to export to China and Europe. In the Khmer medical text The Treatment of Four Diseases palm-leaf manuscript, written in the late 19th-early 20th century, the plant is used in 3 compounds to treat hernia/constipation/sharp pains/prolapsed uterus, leprosy-ulcers, and cerebral palsy. In Cambodian traditional medicine the rhizomes are considered stimulating and useful for fever. The fruits were exported to Hong Kong, where in Chinese traditional medicine they were considered a remedy against all intestinal troubles. The seeds were exported to Europe, where in older medical practice they were used against stomachache and as a tonic. Fruits are "[e]xported to Europe where it is used to flavour sausages and cordials." The fruit and young leaves "gives a nice flavour". Eastern Thai people use it to treat dyspepsia and flatulence caused by indigestion, in food products as a flavouring agent, and in the pharmaceutical industry in aromatherapy products for skin stimulation and as a bath product "for skin". As of October 2020 there were two commercially available Traditional Chinese Medicine formulations containing W. vera, among many other ingredients, used in the management of viral pneumonia in China. Note: while there are a number of active ingredients present in the plant, the medical and pharmaceutical claims do not appear to have direct evidence.