Greater galangal grows to a height of 1.8 m and has long, elegant, blade-like leaves. The flowers are green and white with red tips. Rhizome is built up from cylindrical subunits. The interior has about the same color as the skin and is hard and woody in texture.

The rhizome has a wide range of applications in traditional medicine. It is especially valued for its stimulating effect upon the digestive system, being used to treat conditions such as indigestion, colic, and dysentery, whilst it is also used in the treatment of skin diseases, enlarged spleen, respiratory diseases, cancers of mouth and stomach, for treatment of systemic infections, cholera, and after childbirth.