''Hitchenia'' is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It contains only one recognized species, ''Hitchenia glauca'',

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

).Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The plant, which is called ''malaphu'' (မာလာဖူး) in Burmese, is used as an

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

Burmese cuisine Burmese cuisine () encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with ne ...

. A few other species were formerly included in ''Hitchenia'' but have been moved to other genera: *''Hitchenia careyana'' Benth. in G.Bentham & J.D.Hooker = '' Larsenianthus careyanus'' (Benth.) W.J.Kress & Mood *''Hitchenia caulina'' (J.Graham) Baker = '' Curcuma caulina'' J.Graham *''Hitchenia musacea'' Baker = '' Stachyphrynium latifolium'' (Blume) K.Schum. *''Hitchenia roscoeana'' (Wall.) Benth. & Hook.f. = '' Curcuma roscoeana'' Wall.

Curcuma ''Curcuma'' () is a genus of plants in the family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam tulip. They are native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea and northern Australia. Some species are ...

and Larsenianthus are in the family

Zingiberaceae Zingiberaceae () or the ginger family is a family of flowering plants made up of about 50 genera with a total of about 1600 known species of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes distributed throughout tropical Af ...

, but Stachyphrynium is in

Marantaceae The Marantaceae are a family, the arrowroot family, of flowering plants consisting of 31 genera and around 530 species, defining it as one of the most species-rich families in its order.Kennedy, H. (2000). “Diversification in pollination mechan ...

References

External links

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, ''Hitchenia glauca'' 'Rangoon Beauty'
photo Zingiberoideae Zingiberaceae genera Endemic flora of Myanmar Monotypic Zingiberales genera {{Zingiberales-stub