CURCUMA 



CURRANT 



917 



CURCUMA (Arabic name). Zingiberacex. Curious 

 and showy warmhouse herbaceous plants with great 

 spikes of large concave or hooded bracts, from which the 

 flowers scarcely protrude. 



Erect herbs, the st. rising to 10 ft, from a thick tuber- 

 iferous rootstock: Ivs. usually large: fls. in a dense cone- 



1149. Curcuma petiolata leaves. 



like thyrse, borne behind concave or hooded imbrica- 

 cated obtuse often colored bracts; calyx and corolla 

 tubular, the former 2-3- toothed, the latter dilated 

 above and with 5 ovate or oblong lobes; staminodium 

 petal-like, 3-parted, the middle lobe anther-bearing: fr. 

 inclosed by the bracts. The latest monograph, 1904 

 (by Schumann in Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 20), 

 recognizes 42 species, mostly in Trop. Asia and some 

 in Trop. Afr. The fleshy bracts are perhaps the showiest- 

 feature of the plant, the topmost ones being colored 

 with gorgeous tropical hues. Rhizomes of some of the 

 species yield East India arrowroot, while others fur- 

 nish turmeric. The rhizome of C. zedoaria of India 

 is very pungent and has properties similar to ginger. 

 The genus is allied to Alpinia and Amomum. 



In spring the tubers should be deprived of last year's 

 mold and repotted in a fresh mixture of light loam, leaf- 

 mold and turfy peat, the pots being well drained, and 

 placed in a warm pit or frame in bottom heat. Water 

 should be given sparingly until after the plant has made 

 some growth. The young roots are soft and succulent, 

 and are likely to rot if the soil remains wet for a long 

 time. After flowering, the leaves soon show signs of 

 decay, and water should be gradually withdrawn. Dur- 

 ing the resting period the soil should not be allowed to 

 get dust-dry, or the tubers are likely to shrivel. The 

 plants are propagated by dividing the tubers in spring. 



cordata, Wall. Lvs. 1 ft. long, sheathing, ovate, 

 acuminate, the same color on both sides, obliquely 

 penninerved: bracts in a cylindrical spike, the upper 

 part forming a sterile part called a coma, which is a 

 rich violet, with a large, blood-colored spot: fls. yellow, 

 with a pink hood. Burma. B.M. 4435. This is now 

 referred to C. petiolata, Roxbg., but it seems at least 

 horticulturally distinct, with its rose-pink bracts. 



petiolata, Roxbg. QTJEENLILY. Figs. 1149, 1150. Lvs. 

 6-8 in. long, peculiar in this genus as being more or less 

 rounded or cordate at the base, the stalk 4-5 in. long: 

 fls. spicate, the spikes 5-6 in. long; bracts 20-30, con- 

 nate at their bases, and wholly including the pale yel- 

 low fls. India. B.M. 5821. The most beautiful and 

 showiest of the curcumas. 



longa, Linn. Lvs. 2-2 J^ ft., the blade about 1 ft. and 

 narrowed at the base: fls. spicate, autumnal, tho spikos 



4-6 in. long; bracts pale green, not wholly inclosing the 

 pale yellow fls. India. B.R. 886. The dried rhizomes 

 of this furnish the well-known turmeric of India, used 

 as a condiment and as a dye. Intro, by the Royal 

 Palm Nurseries. 



C. albifldra, Thwaites, differs from some others here described in 

 having its spikes sunk below the Ivs., instead of standing high 

 above the Ivs., and all the bracts have fls., while the others have a 

 sterile portion of the spike which is brightly colored. In this species 

 the spike is short and green and the fls. are prominent and white. 

 Ceylon. B.M. 5909. C. australasica, Hook, f., has its upper bracts 

 soft, rosy pink and the fls. pale yellow. Austral. B.M. 5620. C. 

 Roscoedna, Wall., has a long and splendid spike, with bracts gradu- 

 ally changing from green to the vividest scarlet-orange: fls. pale 

 yellow. Burma. B.M. 4667. C. rubescens, Roxbg. (C. rubricaulis, 

 Link). Lvs. stalked, oblong, with red sheaths, said to be brown in 

 the center: fls. red. E. Indies. C. zedoaria, Roscoe, has the upper 

 bracts white, tinged with carmine, and handsomely variegated Ivs., 

 which, with the green of the lower bracts and the yellow of the fls. 

 makes a striking picture of exotic splendor. Himalayas. B.M. 



1546 ' WILHELM MILLER. 



CURMERIA: Homalomena. N ' TAYLOR.f 



CURRANT. The currants grown for their fruit in 

 America are derived mainly from two species, namely, 

 the European red currant, Ribes vulgare (R. rubrum) 

 (Fig. 1151), and the European black currant, R. nigrum 

 (Fig. 1152). There are two promising American species, 

 of which few, if any, improved varieties have been 

 introduced, the swamp red currant (R. triste) and the 

 wild black currant (R. americanum) . Another American 

 species of which at least one named variety has been 

 offered for sale is the Buffalo or Missouri currant (R. 

 aureum) (Fig. 1154), also grown because of its orna- 

 mental flowers. The currant is not known to have been 

 under cultivation before the middle of the sixteenth 

 century. It is not mentioned by any of the ancient 

 writers who wrote about fruit, and was evidently not 

 known to the Romans. 



Currants are natives of comparatively cold or very 

 cold climates; hence most varieties succeed over a very 

 wide area in America. They are among the hardiest of 

 fruits from the standpoint of resistance to cold or 

 changes of temperature, but in hot and dry sections 

 they do not thrive, and, on this account, are unsatis- 

 factory in parts of the 

 southern states. 



The currant is not so 

 generally used in America 

 as some other fruits, as few 

 persons care for them when 

 eaten raw, and when cooked 

 they are usually made into 

 jelly and consumed by only 

 a comparatively small pro- 

 portion of the people. In 

 the coldest parts where other 

 fruits do not succeed well, 

 the currant is more popular, 

 and is used much more gen- 

 erally. It is a wholesome 

 and refreshing fruit and 

 deserves much more atten- 

 tion than it receives at the 

 present time. 



The currant does not vary 

 so much when grown from 

 seed as most cultivated 

 fruits, and, being so easily 

 propagated from cuttings, 

 it has not been improved so 

 much as it otherwise would 

 have been. Moreover, size 

 in currants was not of great 

 importance until recent 

 years, when competition in 

 marketing has become 

 keener. It is only during n so. Curcuma petiolata in 

 the past fifty or sixty years flower. ( x H) 



