ESSENTIAL OILS 183 



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. Ciirciuiui longa is 

 commonly cultivated and the wild plants are probably descend- 

 ants of planted ones. 



CURCUMA ZEDOARIA Bosc. BARAK or Zedoary. 



Local names: Alimpny'mg (Negros Oriental) ; barok (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 f 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, 



^ = 0.993; refractive index, N^ = 1-5070; optical rotation, 



30" 

 A-pT = 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. 



t Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils, IV. Philippine 

 Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 5 (1910), page 261. 



