| Wurfbainia villosa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| W villosa at the Hong Kong Botanical Garden | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Zingiberales |
| Family: | Zingiberaceae |
| Genus: | Wurfbainia |
| Species: | W. villosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Wurfbainia villosa (Lour.) Skornick. & A.D.Poulsen | |
| Synonyms | |
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Wurfbainia villosa, also known by itsbasionymAmomum villosum,[2] (Chinese:砂仁;pinyin:shārén) is a plant in theginger family which is grown as a cardamom-like spice throughoutSoutheast Asia andSouth China.[3] Likecardamom, the plant is cultivated for its fruits, dry capsules containing strongly aromatic seeds.[4]W. villosa is an evergreen monocotyledonous plant 1.5 to 3.0 m in height, the branches and leaves of which are similar to those of ginger. It grows in the shade of trees and has a reproductive peculiarity whereby those flowers borne on creeping growth at ground level will set fruit, while those borne on aerial branches will not. It blooms in March and April, the colour, translucency andwaxy lustre of the flowers being likened traditionally to those of whitejade.
The seed ofWurfbainia villosa is used as a spice inChinese cuisine, in which it can also form an ingredient in certain recipes for the traditional spice mixture known asfive-spice powder.[5][4] From as early as the time of theTang dynasty, many ancient books, including, notably, theCompendium of Materia Medica, have been unanimous in describing the taste ofW. villosa as “acrid, fresh, and slightly bitter”.
Due to the demand for seeds and ripe fruits, and to curbslash-and-burn activities in forests by local populations, cultivation ofW. villosa and coplantings withrubber trees has been encouraged by the governments ofYunnan andGuangdong, China.[6] However, the extensive cultivation ofW. villosa in forests has resulted in the reduction of species diversity in the rainforests ofSouthwest China.[7]
Media related toAmomum villosum at Wikimedia Commons