Jangli Ada / Allugha Galangal
Alpinia nigra
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal & more
- Flowering
- January-May
How to identify Jangli Ada
Identify Jangli Ada by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Black seeds in fruit.
- Confirm flower colour: Greenish-white.
- Confirm fruit type: Berry.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: January-May.
- In India, compare location records such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Zingiberaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Jangli Ada.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Alpinia nigra
- Genus
- Alpinia
- Family
- Zingiberaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Evergreen and moist deciduous forests
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Distribution
- Indo-Malesia
- Found in India
- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh
- Flowering & fruiting
- January-May
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Zingiberaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Greenish-whiterecorded
- Fruit type
- BerryrecordedA fleshy fruit with seeds embedded directly in the pulp, no central stone.“The fruit is a berry having many seeds, and the pericarp is thin and green when it is young, becoming black and brittle when it gets old.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Jangli Ada itself; the rest are typical of the Zingiberaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Bengali
- Jangli Ada, Tara
- Kannada
- Betta shunthi
- Malayalam
- Malainschikua, Malayinchikkuva, Malayincikkuva
- Marathi
- Giri-kulimjan
About Jangli Ada
Allugha Galangal (Alpinia nigra) belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and 2 other states. It grows in evergreen and moist deciduous forests. Flowering and fruiting run from January to May.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten and long used in traditional medicine. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Zingiberaceae
Ginger family
Jangli Ada belongs to the Zingiberaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Zingiberaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Jangli Ada or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides