438 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
ZEDOARY 
Zedoary, the rhizomes of Curcuma Zedoaria, is one 
of those spices which attained its greatest popularity in 
medieval times, but practically dropped out of commerce 
many years ago. It is still, however, cultivated by 
natives of the East Indies, and used in curry powder, as 
well as medicines. 
The plant is a very handsome one, and to some 
extent resembles turmeric, but is larger. The leaves are 
produced in a tuft, and are about 18 in. tall and 6 in. 
wide, erect, oblong, ovate, acuminate, bright green, with 
a slash of purple brown colour running up the centre. 
The flower-spike appears from outside the leaves, and 
with them or frequently alone after the leaves have 
withered. It is borne on a stout peduncle 18 in. long, 
and has the form of a cylindrical cone, 6 in. long, of 
spreading bracts. 
The lower bracts on the spike are bright green 
tipped with pink, gradually passing upwards into deep 
crimson ones forming the top of the spike. The flowers, 
of which there are four to each bract, are pale yellow, 
and produce one or two at a time on the spike. The 
rhizome is large, fleshy, and rounded, like that of 
turmeric, and bears also oblong, rounded tubers, whitish 
orange to orange inside, less brilliantly coloured than 
turmeric, and often nearly white. They possess a 
distinct aromatic taste, not, however, very strong, and 
not at all pungent. 
Cultivation. — The plant is grown in just the same 
way as turmeric, but is even stronger in growth. It is 
even found growing in abandoned cultivations covered 
with the rank Lalang grass [Imperata cylindrica), 
having persisted and thriven long after the cultivation 
has been abandoned. 
Use . — Zedoary is more used as a drug than as a 
spice, even in the East, and as a perfume. There seems 
to be somewhat of a trade in it in America, as it is 
quoted in the Midland Druggist of Columbus, Ohio, 
