Plai (or Plai)

Today I will tell you about "Zingiber cassumunar Roxb.", well known as "Phlai" or "Plai" In Thailand. When I was young, after I played outside all day, my mother used the essential oil from Phlai or Plai to massage for me. In Thailand, this herb is very famous which is used for muscle relaxant, and relieve knee, muscle, joint pain such as Acute Gouty etc.

Plai, Zingiber cassumunar Roxb., which is synonymous with Zingiber purpureum Roscoe, has long been regarded by Thai massage therapists as one of those oils necessary to have in their kit to combat joint and muscle problems. Plai is of the same family as ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) but has different properties and more intense actions.

Native to Thailand, Indonesia and India, the pale amber oil is steam distilled from the fresh rhizome. It has a cool, green peppery aroma (not unlike Tea Tree) with a touch of bite. The main active chemical constituents of the oil are sabinene (27-34%), g-terpinene (6-8%), a-terpinene (4-5%), terpinen-4-ol (30-35%), and (E)-1-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)butadiene (DMPBD) (12-19%).

Zingiber cassumunar Roxb., commonly known as Plai, is a Thai herbal plant which has been exploited for medicinal purposes in Thailand and Southeast Asia for centuries. Plai has long been regarded by Thai massage therapists as one of those oils necessary to have in their kit to combat joint and muscle problems. The plant has been proven to be extremely useful for human health and thus developed into creams and massage oils for relieving muscle pain. Furthermore, it is well known that the essential oils from Plai have also been shown to cure acne, bruises, burnt skin, skin inflammation, muscle pain, insect bite, and asthmatic symptoms. They are even proven to cope with cough and respiratory symptoms as well. Plai extracts exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activities. A number of pure compounds isolated from the plants has been shown to possess anti-microbial, topical and oral anti-inflammatory, analgesic, smooth muscle relaxant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-oxidative activities. These therapeutic indications and the reported ethnomedical uses make Plai an attractive candidate for the development into cosmetics, spa and skin beautification products.

The uses of Plai as Antibiotics
Zingiber cassumunar Roxb. is a medicinal plant which contains volatile oils known for its effectiveness in anti-inflammatory activity. It is propagated vegetatively by rhizomes. However, rhizomes in storage are susceptible to pathogens causing limited supplies for high - quality rhizomes. The quality of volatile oil obtained from the rhizomes also varies with plant age. Therefore, a method which could produce pathogen - free plants of the same age with high-quality volatile oil would provide a substantial supply of volatile oil for pharmaceutical industries. This paper reports the use of micropropagation as an alternative method in producing large number of pathogen - free plants.

Antibiotics such as amoxicillin, neomycin, chloramphenicol, and cloxacillin were used as sterilizing agents for excised shoot tips. Shoot tips were then cultured on LS medium supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1 mgL-1 NAA in combination with 0, 1, 2, 4 mgL-1 BAP and 20 gL-1 sucrose.

The use of antibiotics as a sterilizing agent increased the survival rate of cultured shoot tips up to more than 10 percent compared to the control. Each shoot tip placed on LS medium supplemented with 4 mgL-1 BAP produce the average of 13 shoots within eight weeks. The controls did not grow well and did not produced many plantlets. Some shoots produced protocorm - like structures near the base of the shoot tips. These structures grew into plantlets after subsequent transfers. Root formation was readily when shoots were transferred to the same medium or to a medium with low concentration of NAA. Addition of activated charcoal to a medium without growth regulator enhanced root formation and plant growth as well. Plantlets of approximately 5 cm high were transferred to soil. Clones derived from tissue culture will be selected for high volatile oil content.

Considered analgesic, anti-neuralgic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitoxic, anti-viral, carminative, digestive, diuretic, febrifugal, laxative, rubefacient, stimulant, tonic and vermifuge, it has been used for aches and pains, asthma, catarrh, chronic colds, colic, constipation, diarrhoea, fevers, flatulence, heartburn, immune problems, inflammation, influenza, joint problems, muscle spasms, nausea, respiratory problems, sprains and strains, torn muscles and ligaments.

Praise for Plai
Plai, while being of the ginger family, does not possess the classic heat that is common to the rhizomes. It has a cooling action on inflamed areas, be they joints and muscles or kidneys and lungs. Clients in Vancouver, Canada, have found that using Plai for asthma, with either tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) or rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.), causes the attacks to diminish greatly in intensity. The types of asthma thus far targeted have been exercise and allergy induced. Although clients report that the aroma is a little overwhelming at first, even just smelling the blend causes the attack to reduce.

On inflamed joints, undiluted Plai has been found to ease pain for upwards of 18 hours, which is impressive when compared with other oils. On joints inflamed due to injury, Plai was best combined with oils such as black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) and lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) or neroli (Citrus aurantium L. ssp. amara L.), Himalayan cedarwood (Cedrus deodora G. Don. f.) and orange (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle). These combinations worked to take the swelling down, eased the pain and considerably speeded up the healing time. Used in a small rollette bottle, the 10% dilution in a vegetable oil is probably higher than that to which we are used in the UK. The oils were blended in equal parts.

For digestive upsets, Plai, together with black pepper, orange and tarragon, has been used to counter irritable bowel syndrome. This blend was applied across the abdomen and across the rectal tissue after each bowel movement or anytime there was any cramping or pain in the abdominal area. After three applications, all symptoms receded.

Ref : http://www.smj.ejnal.com, http://www.actahort.org, http://www.essentiallyoils.com, and http://www.whitelotusaromatics.com