CURCUMA. 
If Hedychium be the most splendid, and Alpinia be the most elegant, Curcuma is undoubtedly 
the richest and most magnificent of the whole tribe of Scitaminean Plants; the lively and variegated 
colours. of its singularly constructed flowers, the grandeur of its crimson and turbanlike coma or crown, 
and the luxuriance of its ample foliage, beautifully diversified with red in its stems, its petioles, and its 
leaves, all contributing to add to the Eastern-like magnificence of this stately genus. But if we admire 
it for its beauty, we shall find still greater reason to value it for its many useful properties; in the 
variety and importance of which it is not perhaps exceeded by any of the vegetable tribe, as a_ brief 
account of it will sufficiently show. These properties reside in a great degree in its roots; which are 
large succulent tubers of various kinds, sizes, and shapes; some remaining near the surface, whilst others 
penetrate very deep into the ground. These roots are distinguishable into three distinct kinds, viz. 1, a 
tunicated bulb, resembling the root of a large tulip, from which the foliaceous stem rises, and also the 
lateral scape, when the inflorescence is radical; as is the case with the greater number of the species. 
2, the large spreading digitated or palmate tubers, surrounding the base of the floral bulb, and being of 
the shape, and in many species, larger than the human fingers. These tubers each contain, or rather, are 
composed of a hard fibrous pulp, saturated with a peculiar aroma, medicine, or pigment, of a peculiar 
kind, which it gives out by a simple process either to spirits or water; of these, some have been known 
and employed for ages, as well in Europe as the East for their highly valuable medicinal properties ; as 
the Zedoary, for its warm, bitter, aromatic qualities ; on account of which it was formerly highly recommended 
here as a stomachic in colics and nervous affections; and although now supplanted by more active remedies, 
is certainly an agreeable, safe, and elegant corroborant. The C. cesia, or blue Curcuma root is used, when 
bruised by the Hindoos, for removing pain and swelling of the joints, and it is probable that most of the 
species are useful in complaints where strong aromatic applications are desirable. These roots, when 
intersected by the knife, exhibit various colours, according to their species, as yellow, straw colour, orange, 
green, as in C. @ruginosa, blue as in C. ceesia, §c.; another use to which the palmate tubers are applied 
by the natives of India, is as a spice to season their curries; of the dyes obtained from the Curcuma, the 
most celebrated’ is the turmeric or saffron di terra, which is produced by the Curcuma longa, and is well 
known as an extensive article of commerce ; nor is it improbable that other species would, if carefully 
analysed, be found to contain dyes of different tints, and not inferior value. 3, from the bulbs and tubers 
before described, proceed numerous strong round cords, or fibres, which shoot down into the ground to a 
considerable depth, and each of them generally terminates in large, farinaceous, succulent bulbs, of a very 
different kind from those before described, being about the size and shape of a large pear; the substance 
of which contains a very slight aromatic pulp, which nearly evaporates in drying. These bulbs, like so 
many other productions of the vegetable kingdom, serve a double purpose, as regarding both the plant 
itself, and the human race. In the first instance as reservoirs of moisture, in those arid climates, for supplying 
the upper roots with nutriment when required; but their great value consists in their producing a sort of 
fine starch or flour, like the potatoe, or arrow-root, which is called Tikhur; and is used as food, in the 
same manner as the Maranta arundinacea in the West Indies, and is prepared by a similar process, supplying 
the food of whole districts of people. In this respect, all the species of Curcuma seem to be used in the 
East; although some kinds bear a much larger proportion of these pendulous tubers than others. But 
independent of the value of this genus in a medicinal, manufacturing, and culinary point of view, it is 
highly deserving of cultivation, on account of the beauty and elegance of its flowers, which although not 
diversified in so many beautiful forms as those of Hedychium and Alpinia, and appearing, to an incurious 
