Sha Ren

Amomum villosum, commonly known as villous amomum or by its Chinese name Sha Ren, is a tropical to subtropical perennial herb in the ginger family Zingiberaceae native to southern China, particularly Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, and adjacent parts of Southeast Asia, where it is also widely cultivated. The plant arises from a creeping, branched rhizome and forms clumps of leafy pseudostems 1 to 3 m tall, each composed of overlapping leaf sheaths. The lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate leaves are 14 to 40 cm long, arranged in two ranks along the pseudostem, and are glabrous or finely hairy on the lower surface. Inflorescences are borne separately from the leafy shoots, arising directly from the rhizome on short scapes near ground level; they bear small, white to purplish-tinged flowers in dense racemose or spike-like clusters. The fruit is a roundish to ovoid capsule covered with soft, fleshy spines, containing numerous small, pungently aromatic brown seeds. These dried fruits and seeds are the part used in traditional Chinese medicine as Sha Ren.