Globba pendula

Overview

This plant spreads in Thailand, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sarawak, Sabah, and Kalimantan. In Indonesia, several tribes in South Sumatra have used G. pendula as an ethnobotanical drug to treat postpartum flatulence and canker sores.

Vernacular Names

No found data on this. Need further research.

Agroecology

Often found in damp and shaded places at an altitude of 1,200-1,300 m above sea level.

Morphology

• Rhizome - white flesh, glabrous surface and 1.1 cm distance between shoots.
• Stems - pseudostem, 27 cm high, 0.7 cm in diameter, the base is dark red.
• Leaves - number of leaves 4 - 6, green with red spots, hairy, white. Ligula;  0.25 cm long, rounded tip, smooth surface, green with red spots. Petiole;  0.1 cm long, green. Laminate;  3.5 - 12 cm long, 1.2 - 3.5 cm wide, flat margin, tip acuminatus, base acutus, hairy surface, green.
• Flowers - inflorescence;  terminal, 29.5 cm long, the number of flowers blooming 9, orange. peduncle;  5.5 cm long, green. Sterile Bractea;  0.4 cm long, 0.2 cm wide, green. Androecium;  reddish brown stamen, anther length 0.4 cm, width 0.3 cm, anther attached to the left and right of the stigma, filament length 2.21 cm, orange and has 2 appendages. Lateral staminode;  oval, 0.8 cm long, 0.5 cm wide, orange. Gynoecium Pistilum orange, stylus 2.3 cm long, stigma triangular, white.

Cultivation

Propagated by division of rhizome.

Chemical Constituents

Labdane diterpene, indirubin, vanillin, vanillic acid, 2 (3H)-benzoxazolone, beta-sitosteryl-D-glucopyranoside, beta-sitosterol, 7-alpha-hydroxysitosterol, and isoandrographolide.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• In traditional Vietnamese medicine, the rhizome of G. pendula is used to treat rheumatism and osteoarthritis.  
• In Malaysia, people use a decoction of the rhizome for postpartum women and as an anthelmintic.  
• In Indonesia it has been used to treat flatulence.