ETHNOMEDICINAL USES, PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF KAEMPFERIA GALANGA L. RHIZOMERAJASHREE DAS1 AND RANINDRA KUMAR NAYAKAbstract Zingiberaceae is the largest family of the order Zingiberales containing more than 1600 species and 200 genera among which Kaempferia is the medium sized ornamental genus containing near about 60 species mostly distributed throughout the tropics and sub tropics of the world. Being aromatic and rich in diverse bioactive compounds plants of this family are economically, ethnomedicinally and pharmaceutically very important. Apart from their traditional use as spices, food, ethnomedicine, dyes, perfume etc., they have got a huge future potential in new drug development due to their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anti-cancer and antioxidant characteristics. In the present study, the ethnomedicinal uses of Kaempferia galanga have been documented. In addition to this the antimicrobial properties of this plant have been examined by disc diffusion method. It has been observed that K. galanga exhibited remarkable antibacterial property against the Gram +ve bacterium Staphylococcus aureus than Gram the -ve bacterium Escherichia coli. Fifty five compounds have been identified by GCMS analysis. Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (55.60%) comprised of the maximum area which is followed by other compounds such as Pentadecane (22.46%), 2-Propenoic acid, 3-phenyl-, Ethyl ester, (E)-(7.78%), Eucalyptol (1.11%), Alpha. -Pinene (.11%), Endo-Borneol (0.57%), Germacrene D (0.14%), Camphene (0.07%) and 3-Carene (1.46%) are the major representative compounds. |