Kaempferia

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 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 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 Noppornch. - 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.