CHAPTEE 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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