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Kaempferia Parviflora Thai Black Ginger Ginseng Root
Packet containing 1x small, rare, and very expensive rhizome!
True Kaempferia parviflora is super hard to find here in Australia and until now I have been keeping it for just me and the Mrs.
It is known as black ginseng, Thai black ginger, Thai ginseng, krachai dum, krachaidam, krachai dum, black turmeric, black galingale, gra-chai-dam, Kaempferia rubromarginata, Stahlianthus rubromarginatus, black finger root and many many other regionally common names.
It’s native range includes China, India, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and Thailand and it has been used as a medicinal for 100’s of years.
If you want bigger, stronger, more powerful and more energetic, this is what they would give you.
Traditionally it is used to improve sexual performance, and to maintain vigor and stamina during periods of heavy physical exersion.
The actual modern medical studies done on the plant all but dispute this effect, but they do confirm an increase in sperm density in intact male rats, and in testosterone levels on castrated rats, it decreased pain response, and it can measurably increased the muscular hand grip strength in human studies.
There is an untested theory that low doses over much longer periods of time are needed to get the touted sexual and physical exertion improvements, but yeah, that’s just a theory.
It is also commonly prescribed by traditional medicine practitioners to lessen the effects of diabetes, and regulate blood sugar levels.
It likes a warm climate, a shady position, a nice sandy soil mix and a feed once or twice a year with compost, but apart from that there isn’t any secret to growing it.
It has a dainty little white and purple splotched flower, red to purple stems and shoots, and a beautiful dark purple root that is jam packed with flavonoid phytopigments and Anthocyanins.
These chemicals are the good bit in blue and purple fruits like blueberries and Black Goji Berry and they have strong antioxidant effects. There is ongoing research into these chemicals and cancer prevention.
Me personally, I make a tea a few times a year as a novelty/immune-booster and the rest of the time I just admire it aesthetically.
Cool plant, easy to grow, amazing history and medical potential, well worth having in the collection I reckon!
I am a big fan of Gingers and Turmeric species and I keep a heap of others at this Ginger & Turmeric link.
Even as ornamental’s they make a great choice, and if you grow them in a sandy well draining soil mix and only water when dry like I do, then I can’t really see any dramas growing these fellas.
I grow mine all in neglected 9lt pots of sandy soil that hardly ever get a water as it makes the harvest super easy and I believe the harsh conditions increase the potency of the plant. You get slightly smaller tuberous roots compared to growing in lush moist conditions, but the end product is more pungent, oily, and way darker colours when cut.
You can then just dump the pots of soil out on a piece of wire chicken mesh screen and the sandy soil falls through, roots are all left behind nice and clean. Replant the ones with small plants attached, divide up the tubers for use and/or propagation of more plants.
A small piece of clean fresh root grows about 4x the size before dying off for harvesting, and a small piece of root with a plant stem attached already grows 6-10x the size between harvests. Small plants grow way faster and bigger than pieces of root the same size/weight so take note of that when replanting your first couple crops.
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems no nasties, no problems!!!
