147 Introduction The tropical monocot family Zingiberaceae contains a cluster of commercially important rhizomatous herbs including ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric (Curcuma longa), mango ginger (Curcuma amada), cardamom ginger (Alpinia calcarata), cassumunar ginger (Zingiber montanum), etc. (Das et al. 2016; Raju et al. 2014; Rout et al. 2001; Sanatombi and Sanatombi 2017; Tyagi et al. 2007). The genus Kaempferia is another ethno-medicinally important rhizomatous plant of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). Three species of Kaempferia, viz. K. galanga, K. rotunda, and K. angustifolia, have a long history of traditional use in different ethno-medicinal formulations. The species K. angustifolia is indigenous to Southeast Asia and can be found growing wild in India, Indonesia, Thailand and is sometimes cultivated for medicinal purposes (Woer- denbag et al. 2004; Yeap et al. 2017). This pleasant-smelling plant is traditionally used as a remedy for fever, colds, coughs, diarrhoea, stomach ache and dysentery (Sukari et al. 2004; Yeap et al. 2017). This plant also exhibits strong larvicidal and antimicrobial activities (Sukari et al. 2010; Tang et al. 2014). Rhizomes of K. angustifolia have great nutritional value with strong antioxidant properties (Yeap et al. 2017). The chemical constituents and essential oil com- position of these plants have been previously reported in many works (Sukari et al. 2008; Vipunngeun et al. 2007; Woerdenbag et al. 2004). Several pharmacologically active compounds like crotepoxide, boesenboxide, zeylenol, 2’-hydroxy- J. Crop Sci. Biotech. 2018 (June) 21 (2) : 147 ~ 153 DOI No. 10.1007/s12892-017-0051-0 RESEARCH ARTICLE Micropropagation of Kaempferia angustifolia Roscoe - An Aromatic, Essential Oil Yielding, Underutilized Medicinal Plant of Zingiberaceae Family Sk Moquammel Haque, Biswajit Ghosh * Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, Post Graduate Department of Botany, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara, Kolkata -700118, India Received: July 13, 2017 / Revised: December 27, 2017 / Accepted: December 29, 2017 Ⓒ Korean Society of Crop Science and Springer 2018 Abstract Kaempferia angustifolia is an aromatic, essential oil-yielding plant of the Zingiberaceae family with an ethno-medicinal repute. We standardized an effective system for micropropagation of K. angustifolia, and this is probably the very first report of in vitro culture of this species. Axillary buds were cultured on a Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations and combinations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) and spermidine. Highest multiplication occurred when the MS medium was supplemented with a combination of 2.0 mg L -1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 2.0 mg L -1 kinetin (KIN) and 1.0 mg L -1 α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Addition of spermidine (2.0 mM) along with optimum PGRs had further improved the multiplication rate with a maximum of 6.6 ± 0.36 shoots per explant within 60 days of implantation. The number of multiplied shoots per explant increased with each subsequent regeneration cycle; and the shoots per explant increased from 6.6 ± 0.36 on the 1 st regeneration cycle to 10.3 ± 0.42 on the 2 nd regeneration cycle and further increased to 13.7 ± 0.37 on the 3 rd regeneration cycle on the same medium composition. The best result for in vitro root induction of multiplied shoot was achieved on a half-strength MS medium fortified with 2.0 mg L -1 IBA, with a maximum of 18.5 ± 0.28 roots per shoot. Regenerated plantlets were acclimatized with 88.9 % survival rate. After 9 months of field-transfer, all these plants were harvested and rhizomes were collected. However, the present protocol can definitely be applied for large-scale propagation and commercial cultivation of K. angustifolia. Key words : Kaempferia, medicinal plant, micropropagation, spermidine, Zingiberaceae Biswajit Ghosh () Email: ghosh_b2000@yahoo.co.in Tel: +91-9432113696 Fax: +91-33-25237896 The Korean Society of Crop Science