Order 113. Scitaniinecz. 335 



Wari country (D.), #., without hab. 



2. CURCUMA. Turmeric. 



Note. The species are very difficult of determination, and the 

 characters are taken, almost without exception, from drawings (H.}. 



(a) Spike distinct from the leaves, usually appearing first. 



1. C. aromatica (C. zedoaria, D.), Tubers yellowish inside, 

 stem composed of leaf sheaths and bracts, corolla rosy or 

 purple, the lip yellow, broad, 2-cleft. Ban lialdi, zadivdr. - 



The Konkans, springing np very commonly at the beginning^of the 

 rains, and known as wild arrowroot. Throughout India wild and 

 frequently cultivated (H.}. The produce of this, C. Nilgherrensis, and 

 Hitchenia, is called East India arrowroot. 



* C. zedoaria seems to be very like this, but larger, and the leaves 

 have usually a dark mark down the middle ; flowers shorter than 

 the bracts. Kachura, Mpur, said to produce the zedoaria of the 

 Miteria Medica. Cultivated throughout India (H.), but not given 

 by D. or O. 



* C. Nilffherrensis (C. angustifolia, D.). Eoot with small tuber?, 

 leaves petioled acute, narrowed to both ends ; flowers large, bright 

 yellow, longer than the bracts ; coma pink or purple, flowering 

 bracts pale yellowish-green. Ram Ghaut (D.}. This yields 

 Travancore arrowroot. Lisboa. 



(b) Spike in the centre of the tuft of leaves. 



2. * C. amada. Leaves broad, lanceolate, long-petioled, 

 spike about 6 inches high, flower-bracts pale green, coma pink, 

 flowers about as long as the bracts, corolla whitish, lip pale 

 yellow. Amada, kajura gauri. 



Konkans and Guzerat (D.). Widely cultivated (-5".). "Mango 

 ginger, so named from its fresh roots, something like green mangoes; 

 the tube of corolla is slender, and the mouth shut by 3 yellow hairy 

 glands" (<?.). 



3. * C. longa. H. says that herbarium specimens of this 

 and the last are not distinguishable ; but the leafy stem in this 

 is given at 4 to 5 feet, and in the last at only 2 to 3 feet. 

 " Conspicuous by its beautiful pink coma " (D.). Haldi, alad. 



Cultivated in Guzerat and some parts of the Deccan for the root, 

 which furnishes the turmeric of commerce. "Known in Bombay 

 also by its Chaldaic or Hebrew name, Karkam" ((?.). 



"Curcuma, turmeric or Indian cane, brought to us from several 

 parts of India by the company of merchants trading thither." 

 Tournefort, A.D. 1719. 



