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Darklight

Galangal largesse

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OK I'm on the march. Psilo, you inspire me smile.gif

Anyone wanting Kaempferia galanga ( not the culinary variety but I believe it can be used safely in cooking ) please email me

You'll need to provide a self addressed padded post bag to the weight of 100g, and its to get sent from Lismore. Postage costs will of course vary depending which part of the country you're in, so check.

Rev? You interested?

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Oops...better add some info. Its not available from the species data list here and the Lycaeum don't seem to list it anywhere anymore...

GALANGAL

Family: Zingiberaceae

Genus: Kaempferia

Species: galanga

A smooth stemless or short stemmed herb that grows to about 1.5 meters, its round leaves grow to about 12 cm long and up to 12 cm wide. The leaves are flat spreading. The flowers form a terminal spike and are white with deep red veining. It grows in open grassy areas and is found from tropical

Africa through India to northern Queensland.

The rhizome is rich in essential oils and is highly aromatic.

There is also a spice called galangal, which is a common name belonging to a completely

different species.

Effects: Pleasant dreams and mild hallucinations.

History: Used by the natives of New Guinea in the Morobe & Fore regions as an hallucinogen, as described in the movie The Valley, obscured by clouds (the one with the Pink Floyd soundtrack). Used in the Philippines as a folk medicine. Also used by Aleister Crowley as an incense in the Liber Samekh, a

ritual for 'communicating' with your 'holy guardian angel'.

Never tried it personally, will one day I suppose smile.gif

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Guest Psilo_smylin

please reserve me some K.Galangal.

If I'm any longer than 14 dayz (I am in a totally diffent timezone remember wink.gif )_I am coming up there personally to endevour the garden, as harsh as it may be.

[This message has been edited by Psilo_smylin (edited 15 March 2001).]

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Excuse my doubting, but there is a lot ofd confusion about galangals in so many books. Is the description you give of your plant? Kaempferia galanga won't get more than a foot tall and has small numbers of flowers, pure white with a chocolate blotch per lower petal.

The root of this one is called Kentjoer in commerce and is very nice as a stimulant/euphoric.

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Doubting is the keystone of good science wink.gif ROTFL.

Mine has never flowered, which makes the number of flowers very small indeed. And it is only a foot tall, has been for years.

Fair enough on the taxonomy question too, its a constant problem. It will only be confirmed when my plant flowers of course, and it wouldn't be the first I've had from that source ( *not* SAB ) which needed re-identification.

I'm pretty confident with this one tho

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My first K. galanga turned out to be a K. pulchra when it flowered and I eventually got it replaced. I lost that one to a move, unfortunately. Send me a sliver of root and I will give my organoleptic analysis wink.gif Many Kaempferias are used for something, if only horse medicine.

I found some useful pictures:

http://www.hortpix.com/pc2385.htm

http://gingers.50megs.com/Kaempferia1/

http://gingers.50megs.com/OtherGingers1/index.html shows a Boesenbergia which sounded more like the one in the description above. Spikes, though? B. pandurata, the Krachai has been confused and makes a very nice aphrodisiac liqueur.

Only rational doubt, of course. The French Academie denied the possibility of meteorites for many years because of the fact that rocks could not be falling from the sky and it was only ever peasans who saw them fall.

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Thanks for those URLs theo, I checked them out. It could be parvifolia too, but the plants in that photo wasn't developed enough to show more than similar morphology & leaf colour. I wish it would flower, I've had it for about five years now frown.gif

Leaf veins aren't as pronounced as Boesenbergia, but who knows?

Ah...meteorites of the French Resistance. Sorta like alien abductions of the late C20. Peasants then were no more credible than peasants now, it seems smile.gif

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Guest reville

sure im interested but im not sure about the climate here..

i can get the old turmeric and native ginger going but im not sure about the other..

anyone got any idea on what conditions it will not tolerate..

unfortunately i came home to find my salvia divinorum in quich decline.. frown.gif hoping i can save it..

thanks for remembering me there darklight

smile.gif

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Excuse me poking my nose in here, but I think I detect some miscommunication. I think Darklight posted the Galangal entry from the Natural Highs FAQ (Australian supplement?), it wasn't a description made from her plant as theo seems to think.

You may now proceed.

ObNonSequitur: Theo, why the mis-spelling of your name on this particular site?

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Oops, sorry you're right. I should have made that clear and acknowledged the source docco. Was just trying to post some info to differentiate it from culinary variety

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I had noticed the giveaway statement that Darklight's plant had not flowered. Mine flowered without any persuasion, as a houseplant kept above 18ºC (usually 25ºC and above), high humidity and 13 hours per day lighting.

My Graecised re-spelling (one cannot misspell one's one pseudonym) was due to the browser forgetting my password, which I had never looked at. This was the only time I let the cookies do my passwords and the last time I trust anything a computer tells me. I should know better by now. It lied about emailing me my password if I forgot it too. I was too lazy to email properly and desperate to post something, so I de-Latinned. What have the Romans ever done for us, after all? I always preferred the Greeks.

If you look up theobromus here you will see that I got a few posts out before the change.

Error, me? Inconceivable!

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Guest TAXMAN

reville?? this will grow fine in Perth... I have looked into this before.. Keeeping it in doors is the best, with plenty of moderate light, not full sun..(can even put it under lights for a few hours per day if you so wish) apparently it likes moister air than Perth, but they all say that.. and besides.. Perth has been like a bloody green house the last 3 weeks.. keep it away from the heaters though.. ( even in winter ) this dry's the air also.. and kills the poor little beggars.. Definately best kept indoors in Perth, not in a greenhouse/ shade house.

I would love some of my own.. i will email you.. :0

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Theo I will happily mail you some for expert analysis but I'll need an addy. Your profile doesn't list one. Were you for real or have I missed another subtlety? As an out Bimbo, this haappens a lot wink.gif

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I think there's still a little confusion here.

Galangal is actually Alpinia galanga. This is the Siamese (Thai) Ginger of commerce (essential oil, dried, fresh and candied root).

Kaempferia galanga is actually the 'Lesser galangal'. Actually usually referred to as galanga (no, I didn't miss the last l). It only grows a few centimetres off the ground, with the leaves hugging the ground (ie. parallel to the surface).

I have Alpinia galanga (available as plants from K-Mart at the moment). Will have the other edible gingers for next spring.

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That'd be right...now I'll have to wait for the damn thing to flower for sure. Ah well, not the first time its happened at that supplier frown.gif Didn't get it here

[This message has been edited by Darklight (edited 03 March 2001).]

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I am in Britain, I am afraid Darklight, I was being a little silly. You have experts a little closer to home. I would be happy to lend my tastebuds if you really want my opinion. Do you have Indonesian veg markets that sell Kentjoer?

As for the confusion of galangals, that should be the collective noun for them. Alpinia galanga has been called Lesser and A. officinarum the Greater, or was it the other way round? One or the other may be Laos (but I thought that was a country).

And then there is the English Galingale, which may or may not have been the one used in Medieval cookery in Britain, unless the Arabs were supplying the Asian Alpinias. This one is the hardy and fragrant sedge Cyperus longus, a relative of the Chufa (Tiger Nut) and the Nut Sedge that is such a virulent weed in the Tropics. Also mild and gingery, a very strange flavour. Not as perfumy as Cyperus rotundus but still unlikely to take off except amongst the culinary section of Historical Re-enactment societies.

The Chinese name (in Pinyin) for Kaempferia galanga is Shan Nai which means Mountain Endurance. Mountains are, of course, associated closely with the Immortals in Chinese tradition. Those Immortals also noted for their liking for psychoactive mushrooms.

I want Alpinia formosana but don't want to pay the price from the only supplier here. Very interesting kava-like compounds in that one and some relatives of it.

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Mornin' alll

I've only received one envelope so far from the half dozen ppl who wanted this. I'll give it another ten days or so before I repot the plant and pull it apart for giveaways, but I won't leave it much longer than that so hurry if you would still like a plant

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Guest TAXMAN

sent to you on monday.. u should get it tomorrow.. smile.gif

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Guest Psilo_smylin

Its been 14 busy dayz.

I'll try and post it today.

Oh yeah I probably won't be coming up there.

smile.gif 'n

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Sorry to those of you who got it together and sent your envelopes early, I've been waiting for everyone else to get their yak together. Got sick of waiting today, and split the plant up.

At least the general slackness has meant that there's heaps for those who sent their envelopes :-) They'll go in the mail tomorrow. Apologies for the wait

darklight

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Guest TAXMAN

A big thanx to you Darklight. I received a parcel from someone with good material to start up my own. Thnx again.

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Same here.

Thanks, Dark Light

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No worries!

All we have to do now is monitor the flowering sitch to confirm species smile.gif

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Errr...uummm. Hmmph

Torsten conclusively ID'd the galangal I sent out to various parties as the culinary variety. Dammit. Another case of species misidentification by Medicine Garden, as it was purchased labelled as a Kaempferia about four years ago

Apologies for any inconvenience, hassle, disappointment etc frown.gif

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