Curcuma

Description

Medicinal Parts

The medicinal parts are the dried, tuberous rhizomes cut into slices.

Flower and Fruit

The inflorescence is large; it is purple or crimson. The corolla has a red margin. Otherwise it is very similar to Curcuma domesticate.

Leaves, Stem, and Root

The plant is a 1.75 m high, leafy perennial. The leaves are in long, thin sheaths on the rhizome. The leaf blades are broadly lance late or oblong and have a narrow, purple mark on the midrib. The main rhizome is thickened like a tuber, ovate, the size of a fist with numerous roots, and thin lateral rhizomes. The roots terminate partially in ovate tubers.

Habitat

Curcuma is indigenous to the forests of Indonesia and the Malaysian peninsula. It is cultivated mainly on Java, in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Production

Japanese turmeric consists of the sliced, dried, tuberous rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza. Curcuma is cultivated and harvested in the second year of growth. After the rhizome has been washed, the main thick root is isolated, cut and dried at a temperature of 50ºC.

Not to be confused with

The rhizome of Curcuma domesticates.

Other Names

Tewon Lawa, Temu Lawak