THK YKI.LUW AND ML \< K ZKI )( > A HI MS 



CURCUMA 



CAULINA 



Arrowroot 

 Substitutes 



i lo .illudn to tin- ilinhti\(i pi-opi-rinv, ol tlio seed*). The true cumin in 

 ^iiiTiilly r.'K'Hrdml as u nativn oi K^\ pt or of the Mediterranean regions, and 

 U-r (Trop. Agrik., 1900, ii., 084) the best sort comes from Malta. 

 Tlio In t..i-.. .1! !-. onLs of the use of cumin go bock to early times. It was a 

 i-.. Minion HH\. mring spice during tlio 17th century in England, OH it still is in 

 (i.TMiiiny; n w a-, intensively employed all over medieval Europe and 

 known .-\i-n in iii" dark ages. With tho Greeks its small size originated a pro- 

 vrrliial reproach kuminopristes (curuin-skinning). It is referred to in very imn-h 

 the same sense in St. Matthew, xxiii., 23. In Europe, however, it has been dis- 

 to a very groat extent by caraway, but is largely used throughout India, 

 seeds (fruits) afford from 3 to 4 per cent, of on oil which has the sp. gr. of 

 toi i <)3. The oil is chiefly employed in Europe in the manufacture of liqueurs. Liqueur*. 

 /. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 1900, 544-5.] In India consider- 



importance is still attached to the medicinal properties of cumin, which is Medicine, 

 to be astringent and cooling. 



Trade. The available information regarding the Indian acreage of this crop and Production 

 tin- average yield are unfortunately not sufficient to justify an attempt at estimating and Trade, 

 the total production and consumption. The United Provinces and the Pan jab 

 the chief producing provinces. There is a large internal trade. Madras, for 

 ample, gets its supplies from Bengal. One of the earliest references to foreign 

 ade in Indian cumin is that given by Milburn (Or. Comm., 1813, i., 136). " The 

 ilant," he observes, "which produces these seeds somewhat resembles fennel, 

 ,d grows in various parts of India, Persia and Egypt ; it is an article of trade 

 ith Surat. The seed is a kind of caraway . . . they are to be chosen fresh 

 d of a greenish colour. There are several sorts of cumin seeds to be met 

 with, but they are seldom imported from India." At the present day the exports 

 of cumin from India show a steady increase. Thus they were 11,304 cwt., 

 2,22,161, in 1899-1900; 17,385 cwt., Rs. 4,03,875, in 1903-4; and 22,308 

 wt., Rs. 5,00,535, in 1905-6. The modern traffic is almost exclusively from 

 mbay and Bengal, and the best customers are Ceylon, the Straits Settlements 

 and British East Africa. The United Kingdom takes only from 20 to 50 cwt. 

 yearly. But there is a considerable import of cumin across the N.W. land 

 ontier and from Red Sea and Persian Gulf ports. The chief trade centres 

 Jabbalpur, Gujarat, Rutlam and Muscat. [Cf. Paulus Mgineta (Adams, 

 ansl.), iii., 203 ; Tavernier, Travels (ed. Ball), ii., 20 ; Birdwood and Foster, 

 .I.C. First Letter Book, 199, 317, 480.] 



CURCUMA, Linn.; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 209-16; Cooke, Fl. Pres. D.E.P., 

 !>., ii., 729-32 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, ii., 1040-2 ; SCITAMINE.E. ", 652-71. 



J. G. Baker has described (in Fl. Br. Ind.) twenty -nine species under this 

 onus. Some ten of these are more or less of economic value and two of con- 

 iderable importance. It may suffice, therefore, to give a few jottings regarding 

 the unimportant economic species, under the present introductory note, and to 

 lus concentrate attention on the two chief plants : 



C. Amada, Roxb., in As. Res., 1810, xi., 341 ; the Mango-Ginger, am-haldi, Mango-Ginger. 



i, etc., which is found wild in Bengal and on the hills, the tubers being used 

 medicinally and as a condiment and vegetable. 



C. aromatica, Salisb. ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., ii., 730 ; Pharmocog. Ind., Yellow 

 iii., 396-8 ; the wild or Cochin Turmeric, Yellow Zedoary, jangli-haldi, ban- Zedoary. 

 hfildi, ambe or rdn-halad, etc. This plant, which is a native of Bengal, is practi- 

 cally a substitute for the true turmeric, and was not distinguished from it 

 by Arabian physicians. Used medicinally by the Hindus in combination with 

 astringents or with bitters and aromatics and exported to Europe for use as a 

 substitute for turmeric in dyeing. It is chiefly grown at Alwaye, north-east of 

 Cochin, and is also collected in Mysore, Wynaad, etc. The unpeeled root fetches 

 Rs. 24 to 25 per candy of 5J cwt. 



C. caesla, Roxb. / the Black Zedoary, kdla haldi, is wild and cultivated in Black 

 Bengal and chiefly used as a cosmetic. It is one of the two zerumbads of modern Zedoary. 

 Persian writers. [Cf. Aitchison, Notes on Prod. W. Afghan, and N.E. Persia, 15; 

 Pharmacog. Ind., I.e. 403-5.] 



C. caullna, Graham ; the ctiavara, chowar of Mahabloshwar ; C. leucorrhiza, 



b., of Bihar, often specially designated tikor or tikhur ; C. pseudo-montana, 

 raham, the sinderwani or sindarbar of the Konkan ; and C. rubescens, Roxb., 



Bengal, are all said to yield arrowroot that is regularly eaten and which 



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