It is a perennial herb. Leaves are oblong or oblong-lanceolate and may be 30.0 cm long or more. Flowers are white and are borne in dense and 30.0 cm long spikes. Corolla - tube is 5.0-6.0 cm long; segments linear. Lip is cuneate, deeply 2-fid and nearly sessile with rounded lobes. Filament is pale red; anthers linear. The capsules are glabrous and globose.

The rootstock is carminative, emmenagogue, expectorant, stimulant, stomachic and tonic. Vasodilator, alleviates spasms, hypoglycemic, antiasthmatic, antiinflammatory and stimulant (rhizome); anthelmintic and antimicrobial (essential oil from rhizome).

Plants for a Future

Gamma-terpinene, cineol, beta-phellanderene, beta-terpineol and limonene (essential oil of rhizome); sitosterol and its glucoside (rhizome).

In liver problems, asthma, bronchitis, as a stimulant, antiinflammatory and for increasing the secretion of gastric juices (rhizome). It is useful in the treatment of liver complaints, and is also used in treating vomiting, diarrhoea, inflammation, pains and snake bite.

Sharma, Classical Uses of Medicinal Plants.