Feature

5th International Symposium on the Family Zingiberaceae, Xishuangbanna, China

Md. Aynal Haque Rana

A member of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology research team of UODA Md. Shahadat Hossain traveled to China to present his paper entitled “Folk medicinal uses of plants belonging to the Zingiberaceae family in Bangladesh” at the 5th International Symposium on the Family of Zingiberaceae”, Xishuangbanna. Being a first-time presenter at an International Conference, he was both apprehensive and looking forward to what he would find. He was received at the airport by the Conference officials and taken to Tropical Botanical Garden where the Symposium was held.

This was the 5th Symposium on the Zingiberaceae family, which includes important spices and medicinal plants like ginger and turmeric. A number of these plants have gained international importance for their phytochemical contents, some of which are active against cancer, heart diseases, rheumatism, to name only a few. The Symposium was hosted by Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical garden and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was attended by hundreds of researchers from all over the world. The Organizing Committee Chairpersons were Dr. Min Cao and Dr. Qing-Jun Li. The Academic Committee Chairpersons were Dr. Jin Chen and Dr. W. John Kress.

His paper was much appreciated by other participants. In his paper, Shahadat pointed out that in Bangladesh, the rhizomes of Alpinia galanga (hoimboti-boch) were used in traditional medicine for treatment of cancer, heart diseases, colic, helminthiasis, and as an expectorant. The rhizomes of Curcuma aromatica (am-ada) were used as remedy for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, flatulence and fungal infections. The rhizomes of Curcuma caesia (jongli holud) were used to treat tumors, flatulence, sprains, jaundice, colic and eczema. The rhizomes of Curcuma longa (holud) were used as remedy for cancer, jaundice, diarrhea, dysentery, eczema, gonorrhea, low sperm count, colic, anorexia, hives, itches, rheumatoid arthritis, piles and skin diseases. All in all, Shahadat demonstrated in his paper the medicinal uses of 12 plants of the Zingiberaceae family, which are present in Bangladesh.

An important fact that came out of the Symposium was that Zingiberaceae family plants are common in countries like Bangladesh, although some species are rapidly getting endangered due to careless harvesting and lack of cultivation. Since the medicinal importance of these plants are increasing day by day, it is important to conserve these plants so that they can be both researched and exported to earn foreign currency. It is to be noted that the University Of Development Alternative (UODA) has ongoing programs for both tissue culture propagation of endangered medicinal plant species and research programs on their pharmacological activities. This sort of international symposium with a number of internationally famous researchers in this field is the best way to obtain good knowledge of the current state of research.

(Student of Molecular Medline and Bioinformatics, UODA)