Morphological Characterization of Etlingera Elatior (Jack) Explorated in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia

Etlingera elatior (Jack), local Honje, is an underutilized species in Zingiberaceae family which is potentially used as resources of secondary metabolite compound for medicines, cosmetics, bio-insecticides and antioxidant needs. The recent research and report for this species in Indonesia, particularly its genetic diversity, pharmaceutical utilization as medicines, and conservation effort, still have limited access. Less attention and interest for this species will threat the existence of this potential species. Morphological characterization and study of genetic diversity is needed to increase its value and conservation efforts. This research aims to obtain the accessions as elder resources for plant development and the accessions which able to be used as medium compound. This research used descriptive explorative survey by choosing area based on altitude; low, medium, and high lands in Sukabumi District, West Java. Approximately 20 accessions of plant were collected from each location. Morphological character was observed according to Descriptor list of Zingiberacea and modified for Etlingera elatior (Jack). The exploration obtained 39 accessions of Honje and they were morphologically characterized. These 39 Honje accessions showed large genetic diversity with value of phenotypic variances are larger than two standard deviations in almost all agronomic characters. Cluster analysis between Honje accessions was showed in dendogram output with Eucidean coefficient by 3.30. TIN001 accession had the furthest genetic relationship with REN001 and REN002 thus these accessions are potential to be used as the mother in breeding program of Honje