Alpinia oxyphylla (at XTBG, by Zhu Renbin)

Alpinia oxyphylla Miq. (Zingiberaceae) is an important herb commonly used in East Asian traditional medicine. Its fruit, called Yizhi, Yakuchi and Ikji in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, respectively, are widely used to treat dyspepsia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, spermatorrhea, ‘kidney’ asthenia and poor memory ( But, 1997 and Pharmacopoeia Committee, 2005). The main chemical components include fruit oil, flavonoids, diarylheptanoids and sesquiterpenes.