CHAPTER XIV 



TURMERIC 



THE turmeric plant belongs to the same order as the 

 ginger, viz. that of the Scitamineae, and is known as 

 Curcuma longa, Linn. Though it has long been culti- 

 vated in India and has a Sanskrit name, no one seems 

 to have met with it in a wild state, and it seems most 

 probable that it is a native of Cochin-China. 



Like the ginger, the plant possesses an underground 

 stem or rhizome which is thick and rounded, with 

 short blunt fingers. It also emits slender branches 

 which develop into thickened tuberous portions. The 

 outside of the rhizome, which is usually rather closely 

 ringed, is brown and scaly ; the inside is of a bright 

 orange colour, and possesses a very distinct odour and 

 taste. The rhizome is the portion used as a spice, under 

 the name of turmeric. The main part of the rhizome 

 is known as long turmeric ; the tuberous portions are 

 known as round turmeric. The leaves are borne in a 

 tuft, and are about 2 ft. tall, but frequently shorter. 

 They are thin, rather flaccid, and light green in colour, 

 lanceolate acuminate, with rather a long leaf -stalk. 

 There are usually six to ten to a tuft, and several tufts 

 to a rhizome. The flowers are borne in cone-shaped 

 spikes in the tuft of leaves. The spikes are shorter than 

 the leaves and supported by a stout peduncle. They 

 consist of a great number of thin, greenish-white, ovate 

 bracts, the uppermost ones being usually pink and 

 rather longer than the lower ones. In each bract are 



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