The locals in Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia have been taking certain Zingiberaceae plants with medicinal value as daily dietary intake primarily for common health purposes and these traditional uses has not been explored and documented well. The objective is to recognize and list out both plants and plant parts that have been utilized by Kelantan people and the traditional uses. Ethnobotanical field surveys were conducted by doing a verbal interview with 20 old folks of the selected village and ethnomedicinal data were collected regarding the uses of Zingiberaceae medicinal plants. The identification process was done by collecting Zingiberaceae plants under guidance from the old folks. Further information from plants identification was assembled through literature reviewed on their recorded medicinal values. The study yielded 10 medicinal plants focused on family Zingiberaceae. Regarding the utilization of medicinal plant, rhizomes were used predominantly followed by leaves and fruits. Decoction of plant parts is used for oral and application on skin. The studied plants list aids to preserve the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants used by locals in Kelantan.

Conservation of indigenous knowledge on the consumption of medicinal Zingiberaceae by locals in Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia

The family Zingiberaceae or known as the ginger family of flowering plants famous for its medicinal values and is widely distributed especially in Southeast Asia. Malaysia is one of the countries with abundance of Zingiberaceous species. Usually, identification of the plant species begins by identifying the leaves. Identification based on leaf recognition is the most effective method because a healthy plant has leaves and it exists all the time, unlike fruits and flowers which may only exist at certain times. However, the leaf recognition considered as intricate task and challenging especially when using conventional approaches as most plants have similar shape and colour. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop an interactive application for classification and identification of selected Zingiberaceae species, namely: Zingiber officinale, Curcuma longa, Etlingera elatior and Alpinia galanga based on leaf recognition using multiclass Support Vector Machine (SVM). Six steps were constructed to develop an interactive application for classification of Zingiberaceae species: 1) Collection of leaf samples, 2) Creation of database from captured leaf images, 3) Image preprocessing, 4) Leaf image processing, 5) Classification of image textures using SVM and 6) Design of graphical user interface (GUI). The image features extraction in leaf image processing were based on gray-level co-ccurrence matrix (GLCM), Canny and Prewitt algorithms. The combination of GLCM and Prewitt achieved the highest accuracy which was recorded of 95% from the overall accuracy in classification of Zingiberaceae species. By using the automatic plant identification system, results will come up more accurate and faster.

Identification of Zingiberaceae Species Based on Leaf Recognition Using Multiclass Support Vector Machine

Study on the Use of Plants in Balinese Ethnicity in Bengkulu as an Alternative Source of Learning Plant Taxonomy Based on Local Wisdom

We gathered information from the IUCN Red List, databases, and literature to review the conservation status, nature of threats, and the challenges, gaps, and opportunities in conserving Zingiberaceae species in tropical Asia that are threatened with extinction. Only 45% of the 1449 species recorded have been assessed, of which 297 species (21% of all evaluated species) are threatened. Southeast Asia is a conservation hotspot in terms of species diversity and endemism, concentration of threatened species, and high deforestation rates. Most of the activities that directly threaten species cause deforestation and forest degradation, with most of the threatened species not being intentionally collected. About 75% of the species are conserved either through in situ or ex situ methods, or both. We identified information gaps, and recommended a pragmatic conservation approach that promotes and enhances the threatened ginger species’ use and values, which may improve their chances of surviving the Anthropocene extinction bottleneck. 

Conservation of IUCN Threatened Zingiberaceae Species in Tropical Asia: Challenges, Gaps and Opportunities

https://link-springer-com-443.webvpn.jmu.edu.cn/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-030-14116-5_87-1.pdf

Kaempferia galanga L. Zingiberaceae

Research on gingers and their traditional uses by three different indigenous ethnic groups at Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia was carried out from February to June 2018. The objectives of the research was to gain information about the diversity of the family Zingiberaceae and its traditional uses by the Topo Baria, Toi Toro Muma and To Kaili Ledo people. Key informants were traditional healers (sando), traditional leaders (adat), community leaders, village leaders, religion leaders, government officers and crafts-people. The interviews were recorded using audio recorders and notebooks. Samples of plants were collected and photographed while recording the information. Response was obtained by "Snowball technique". A total of 24 species of Zingiberaceae were used of which 19 were determined to species level. Eight species were collected from natural forest, while 14 were recorded from agricultural habitat. Four of the species were endemic to Sulawesi (Alpinia eremochlamys, A. rubricaulis, Etlingera acanthodes and E. flexuosa). Fourteen species were not native to Sulawesi but widely cultivated in the region. The information about the uses by the Topo Baria was not adequate whereas the contrary the Toi Toro Muma and To Kaili Ledo used several species for various daily purposes, such as medicine, spice, cosmetics, ornamentals, or to be eat freshly.

A D Poulsen

Papers

Diversity of Zingiberaceae and traditional uses by three indigenous groups at Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia