630 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



ful preparation of it is the ethereal tincture. It is also used in the form of 

 syrup, lozenges, &c. Its principal consumption is as a condiment. 



Some other species are in very general use in the East Indies, and were 

 formerly recognised in medicine, but are now never prescribed. Among 

 these are Z. cassamunar, which furnished the " Yellow Zedoary" of the 

 old pharmacopoeias. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, a Dr. 

 Peachy, in England, published a memoir on its virtues, which he said were 

 wonderful in a variety of diseases. Another species, Z. zerumbet, or " Zerum- 

 bet root," was also employed, before Ginger was plentiful, but is now com- 

 pletely disused, as is also the rhizome of Z. a?riaricans, or Lampajum of 

 Rumphius. 



Curcuma. — Linn, 



Tube of the corolla gradually enlarged upwards ; limb with two lips, each 3-parted. 

 Filament broad ; anther incumbent, having two spurs at base. Style capillary. Capsule 

 3-celled. Seeds arillate, numerous. 



These are acaulescent plants, with palmated tuberous roots, and bifarious, 

 sheathing leaves. The scape is simple, lateral, or central. They are natives 

 of tropical Asia, where several of the species are much esteemed as condi- 

 ments. One species is officinal. 



C. longa, Linn. — Tubers oblong, palmate, of a deep orange colour internally. Leaves 

 long, stalked, lanceolate, tapering to each end, smooth, of a uniform green colour. Spike 

 central, oblong, green. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 3; Bot. Reg. 1825; Roscoe, Scitam., 3; Lindley, Fl. 

 Med. 562. 



Common Names. — Turmeric ; Long-rooted turmeric ; Indian saffron. 



It is a native of the warm parts of Asia, and is extensively cultivated in 

 India, China, Java, &c. It appears to have been known to the ancients, and 

 to have been employed in India from the earliest ages, as a condiment. There 

 are several varieties of the root found in commerce ; the principal of which 

 are the long and the round. They are all of a grayish-yellow colour exter- 

 nally, and of a more or less orange yellow within. Their odour is aromatic, 

 somewhat like that of ginger, but peculiar ; their taste is warm, spice-like, 

 but bitterish. 



Turmeric is a mild aromatic, and is mainly employed as a condiment, 

 forming one of the constituents of Curry powder. In India it is an almost 

 indispensable accompaniment to food. As a medicinal agent it formerly had 

 some reputation in diseases of the liver; and is still used in India in the 

 watery diarrhoea so frequent in that country ; and is also considered as an 

 excellent application, in powder, to foul ulcers. (AinsZie, i. 454.) Paper 

 stained by it is a good test for the presence of the alkalies, being changed to a 

 reddish or brownish colour by them. 



A fecula resembling Arrow Root can be obtained from the roots of several 

 of the species, as C. angustifolia, C. Zeucorrhiza, and C. rubescens. This is 

 known under the name of East Indian Arrow-root. (See Fig. 40.) The root 

 of C. amada is called " Mango ginger," in Bengal', from the fresh root having 

 the peculiar smell of that fruit. C. zeodaria affords the Round Zedoary-root, 

 formerly much employed in colic, cardialgia, torpor of the digestive organs, 

 &c, and is still much prized as a remedy in India. It is spoken of in high 

 terms by Avicenna, and is considered by the modern Arabs to be tonic, de- 

 obstruent, and aphrodisiac. C. zerumbet, or the Long Zedoary, has much 

 the same properties. A species of Curcuma is supposed, by Martius, to fur- 



