Luya
Zingiber officinale · Ginger
- Names in the 1901 book
- Ajengibre, Jengibre, Sp.; Luya, Tag.; Laya, Bic.; Ginger, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Ginger; Tagalog: Luya; Ilocano: Laya; Pampango: Agat; Visayan: Luy-a
- Used for
- Mouth, teeth and throatDiarrhea and dysenteryStomach and digestionJoint pain, sprains and swellingUrinary
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellow, purplerhizomeyellow
- Native range
- Maritime Southeast Asia; known only from cultivation
- Family
- Zingiberaceae, filed in the book under Zingiberaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Zingiber officinale, L. (Amomum zingiber, L. and Blanco.)
- Printed in 1985 as
- Zingiber officinale Roscoe
- Sources
- Page 228 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 106 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall, bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoots. Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, which also includes turmeric (Curcuma longa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), and galangal.
Excerpt from “Ginger” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang luya (Ingles: ginger) ay isang uri ng gulaying ugat na ginagamit panimpla ng mga lutuin.
Sipi mula sa “Luya” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 172 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 39 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (29), Iloilo (12), Zamboanga del Sur (12), Benguet (10), Bataan (6), Cavite (6), Guimaras (6), Agusan del Sur (6), and 31 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The rhizome is used principally as a condiment in the Philippines. Its flavor is extremely agreeable, much appreciated in Europe by the English who are the greatest consumers of the condiment. In the Philippines a decoction is made of ginger and brown sugar, called tahu by the Chinese who drink it regularly as we do coffee in the early hours of the morning. It is an excellent drink, aromatic, tonic, stomachic and stimulant, and would probably be highly useful as well as economical as a part of the ration of European and native troops in the field. Hot tahú or tahu is an active diuretic; and during the last epidemic of cholera in Manila some physicians used it with very satisfactory results.
Ginger is a good carminative and is official in the pharmacopœias of Europe, America and India. It is used with good effect in flatulent colic, atonic diseases of the intestines so common in the Philippines and in chronic rheumatism.
The tincture is given in doses of 2–4 grams. The official infusion 30–60 grams.
The rhizome contains a volatile oil (25 per cent.), a pale yellow liquid, specific gravity 0.878, the odor like that of the rhizome but lacking its strong and piquant taste. Its reaction is not acid; it dissolves slowly in alcohol. The burning taste is due to a resin that produces protocatechuic acid when melted with potassa.
Botanical description
The only part employed is the rhizome, well known all over the islands and found in all their pharmacies and shops.
Several stems rise 2–3° directly from the peculiar, branched rhizome; long-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, glabrous, alternate leaves diverge stiffly from the sides of the stem; petiole proper very short, its broader extension ensheathing the stem; general appearance of a single stem is much like that of the Solomon’s seal so familiar in the U. S.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Sore throatPeeled piece chewed slowly.A small peeled piece, chewed for a few minutes or kept in the mouth.Page 39
- DiarrheaCrushed piece added to the tanglad decoction.One small piece to a pot of the decoction.Page 21
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Luya” on page 106. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Potential Role of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) in the Prevention of Neurodegenerative Diseases
- A comprehensive review on Ginger (Zingiber officinale) as a potential source of nutraceuticals for food formulations: Towards the polishing of gingerol and other present biomolecules
- A critical review of Ginger's (Zingiber officinale) antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities