''Kaempferia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of plants in the ginger family. It is native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The genus is named after the naturalist and traveller

Engelbert Kaempfer Engelbert Kaempfer (16 September 16512 November 1716) was a German naturalist, physician, explorer and writer known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He wrote two books about his travels. ''A ...

, who lived in Japan and east Asia for the years 1689-1693 and was one of the first Europeans to write detailed descriptions of plants there.

Species

Over 100 names have been proposed in the genus. The following are accepted: * ''

Kaempferia alboviolacea ''Kaempferia'' is a genus of plants in the ginger family. It is native to China, India, and Southeast Asia. The genus is named after the naturalist and traveller Engelbert Kaempfer, who lived in Japan and east Asia for the years 1689-1693 and ...

'' Ridl. - Vietnam * ''Kaempferia angustifolia'' Roscoe - Bangladesh, Assam, Vietnam, Thailand, Sumatra * ''Kaempferia attapeuensis'' Picheans. & Koonterm - Laos * ''Kaempferia champasakensis'' Picheans. & Koonterm - Laos * ''Kaempferia chayanii'' Koonterm - Laos * ''Kaempferia cuneata'' Gagnep. - Vietnam * ''Kaempferia elegans'' (Wall.) Baker in J.D.Hooker - Sichuan, Indochina, Borneo * ''Kaempferia evansii'' Blatt. - southern India * ''Kaempferia fallax'' Gagnep. - Laos, Thailand * ''Kaempferia filifolia'' K.Larsen - Thailand * ''Kaempferia fissa'' Gagnep. - Laos * ''Kaempferia galanga'' L. - Yunnan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Indochina * ''Kaempferia gigantiphylla'' Picheans. & Koonterm - Laos * ''Kaempferia gilbertii'' W.Bull - Myanmar * ''Kaempferia glauca'' Ridl. - Thailand * ''Kaempferia grandifolia'' Saensouk & Jenjitt. - Thailand * ''Kaempferia harmandiana'' Gagnep. - Laos, Cambodia *''Kaempferia jenjittikuliae'' - Thailand *''Kaempferia koratensis'' Picheans. - Thailand * ''Kaempferia laotica'' Gagnep. - Laos, Thailand * ''Kaempferia larsenii'' Sirirugsa - Thailand * ''Kaempferia lopburiensis'' Picheans. - Thailand *''Kaempferia maculifolia'' Boonma & Saensouk -Thailand * ''Kaempferia mahasarakhamensis'' Saensouk & P. Saensouk - Thailand *''Kaempferia nigrifolia'' Boonma & Saensouk - Thailand * ''Kaempferia ovalifolia'' Roxb. - Myanmar * ''Kaempferia parviflora'' Wall. ex Baker in J.D.Hooker - Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia * ''Kaempferia philippinensis'' Merr. - Luzon * ''Kampferia pseudoparviflora'' Saensouk and Saensouk - Thailand * ''Kaempferia purpurea'' J.Koenig in A.J.Retzius - Phuket * ''Kaempferia roscoeana'' Wall. - Myanmar, Thailand * ''Kaempferia rotunda'' L. - China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan), India, Nepal, Assam, Bangladesh, Indochina; naturalized in Java, Malaysia and Costa Rica * ''Kaempferia saraburiensis'' Picheans. - Thailand * ''Kaempferia sawanensis'' Picheans. & Koonterm - Laos * ''Kaempferia siamensis'' Sirirugsa - Thailand * ''Kaempferia simaoensis'' Y.Y.Qian - Yunnan * ''Kaempferia sisaketensis'' Picheans. & Koonterm - Thailand * ''Kaempferia spoliata'' Sirirugsa - Thailand *''Kaempferia takensis'' Boonma & Saensouk - Thailand * ''Kaempferia undulata'' Teijsm. & Binn. - Java

Research

Three species of ''Kaempferia'', i.e., ''K. galanga, K. rotunda'', and ''K. angustifolia'', are well studied for their essential oils along with other important phytochemical and medicinal properties. The micropropagation procedures of ''K. galanga'' and ''K. rotunda'' have been studied by many groups for more than two decades, but ''in vitro'' propagation of ''Kaempferia angustifolia'' was the first reported in 2018.Haque SM, Ghosh B. (2018) Micropropagation of ''Kaempferia angustifolia'' Roscoe - An Aromatic, Essential Oil Yielding, Underutilized Medicinal Plant of Zingiberaceae Family. J. Crop Sci. Biotech. 21 (2):147-153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-017-0051-0

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2699485 Kaempferia, Zingiberaceae genera