ESSENTIAL OILS 181 
‘ meters long and 12 to 18 centimeters wide. The flowering spike 
is 12 to 20 centimeters long and borne on a stalk of about the 
same length. The bracts are 2 to 3 centimeters long, spreading, 
recurved, pale green, the terminal one sometimes rosy. 
This species is distributed from northern Luzon to Mindanao, 
and is locally abundant in the settled areas. Curcuma longa is 
commonly cultivated and the wild plants are probably descend- 
ants of planted ones. 
CURCUMA ZEDOARIA Bosc. BARAK or ZEDOARY. 
Local names: Alimpuying (Negros Oriental); bardk (Bataan, Min- 
doro); ganda (Zambales); koniko (Bontoc); luyaluydhan, tamo (Rizal) ; 
lampoydng (Guimaras Island); tamahilan (Camarines). 
ZEDOARY OIL 
The stout, fleshy, aromatic rootstocks when dry are called 
zedoary. The roots yield a volatile oil when distilled with water, 
and contain a pungent, soft resin and bitter extractive. They 
have an odor somewhat like that of ginger. 
Watt * says that the rhizomes constitute one of the most im- 
portant articles of native perfumery in India. The root is also 
used medicinally. According to the nineteenth edition of the 
United States Dispensatory, zedoary is a warm, stimulating 
aromatic, serviceable in flatulent colic and debility of the di- 
gestive organs, but is now little used, as it produces no effect 
which cannot be as well or better obtained from ginger. 
Bacon + found that 160 kilograms of rhizomes when chopped 
and steam-distilled gave 400 grams (0.25 per cent) of a light 
yellow oil which had the following properties :—Specific gravity, 
®> — 0,998; refractive index, N") 1.5070; optical rotation, 
AX =1°.10; saponification number, 2; soluble in two or more 
volumes of 80 per cent alcohol. This oil was distilled in vacuo 
(7 millimeters) and the distillate separated into fractions. 
Fraction 4, (140° to 160°) and fraction 5, (160° to 166°), gave 
131 grams of oil which solidified to a beautiful white, crystalline 
compound, which Bacon thought was probably a sesquiterpene 
alcohol. 
Curcuma zedoaria is an erect herb with a stout, fleshy, aromatic 
rootstock. The leaves usually grow in pairs and are green, often 
with a purplish blotch in the center. They are from 25 to 70 

* Watt, The commercial products of India, 1908. as 
+ Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils, IV. Philippine 
Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 5 (1910), page 261. 
