Asarum balansae Franch.

Asarum balansae Franch., J. Bot. (Morot) 12: 303 (1898).

Asarum balansae Franch.; Photos Hoang Thanh Son

Asarum balansae Franch.; Photo by Duy Nhất

Vietnamese name: 

Tế tân nam, biến hoá núi cao, thổ tế tân. 

Chinese name: 

尾花细辛 wei hua xi xin

English name: 

wild ginger

Latin name: 

Asarum balansae Franch. 

Family: 

Aristolochiaceae 

Synonym name:

No synonyms are recorded for this name.

Description: 

Herbaceous plants live for many years, 10 - 20 cm high. Rhizome round, with short burning, often branched; has many long, crumpled roots and has a special aroma. Leaves include 2 - 6, alternating; stalks, 5 - 15 cm long, hairy; leaf blade thick, round heart shaped 10 - 12 x 6 - 8cm, hairy on both sides, on upper side there are short hairs; raw edge. Flowers 1- 2 grow individually in the interstitial or at the tops, flowers have stalks, hairy, often arched. The flower envelope is light brown, has white spots, the head is divided into 3 lobes, wide lanceolate shape. Stamens 12, short stamens, medial lanceolate and over anther. The stigma is tubular, and at the apex forms 6 stigma. Fruit development in the flower envelope exists, outside there are longitudinal hairs. Seeds are small, black, smooth.

Flower and fruid season: 

Asarum balansae Franch. is a perennial herbaceous plant, which began flowering from early October; flowers bloom in early December; ripe fruit and seed dispersal in July - August in the follwing year. 

Distribution: 

This species is distributed Viet Nam. In VietNam, found in 

Trees grow naturally in the northern highlands: Cao Bang (Quang Hoa), Na Hang (Tuyen Quang). 

Ecological: 

Asarum balansae distributes in the rain tropical forest in low land, altitude from 201 m to 600 m, concentrated in the valley along the trail at the foot-hill of mountain, they grow close to the soil surface, in the rich soil with humus; humidity, light porosity and high airflow; less coverage. The average distribution density is 42,083 trees/ha in forest structure comprising one timber floor at the foot-hill of mountain and two timber floor in mountain sides.

Chemistry:

Esential oil yield from Asarum balancae leaves, roots and stems was 0.02% (by air dry material). Essential oil was analyzed by GC/MS and 18 components of esential oil were identified. Major component were elemicine (71.53%) and trans isoelemicine (19.85%).

Uses: 

In VietNam: Coughing, bronchitis, limb pain, abdominal pain, menstruation (Root).

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org

- Nguyen Anh Tuan, Tran Huy Thai (2012), Ecological characteristics and distribution of Asarum balansae Franch. in Ban Bung, Na Hang district, Tuyen Quang province, Journal of Biology, Vol 34, No 1 

- Tran Huy Thai et al. (2013), Chemical composition of essential oil from some species of Asarum L. genus in VietNam; Journal of Biology, 35 (1): 55-60