Commercial Potentials and Agronomic Status of Etlingera elatior, a Promising Horticulture Plant from Zingiberaceae Family

Etlingera elatior or torch ginger is a species under Zingiberaceae family, which are largely distributed in the tropical forests and humid shady places. It is a coarse herb often growing in large colonies, characterized by elongated leafy stems up to 5-meter height arising from underground rhizomes. It is known as kantan in Malaysia and kecombrang in Indonesia. The inflorescence is popular as ingredients in Malay, Indonesian and Thai dishes. The extract from its stem is used to reduce swelling, the leaves are used by post-partum women while the fruits are used as treatment for earache, diarrhoea, coughs, and mouth sores. Additionally, due to its beautiful appearance it also widely marketed as a promising floriculture and horticulture plant. Recently, the rising demand from customers for the versatility and durability of cut flowers has made farmers and the horticulture industry to search for new cultivars. Thus, researchers are keen to generate cultivars with wide range of colours, shapes, yield and longer vase life. This could be done through different techniques such as intensive germplasm collection, hybridization programme and plant biotechnology techniques. Towards achieving these aims, this review provides current insight on E. elatior from botanical, physiological growth, breeding, taxonomy, ecology, commercial potential, and post-harvest aspects.