Curcuma zedoaria

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Zingiberales

Familia: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Curcuma
Species: Curcuma zedoaria
Name

Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Rosc., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 8: 354. (1807)
Synonyms

Basionym
Amomum zedoaria Christm. in G.F.Christmann & G.W.F.Panzer, Vollst. Pflanzensyst. 5: 12. (1779)
Homotypic
Amomum latifolium Salisb., Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 4 (1796), nom. illeg.
Curcuma speciosa Link, Enum. Hort. Berol. Alt. 1: 3 (1821), nom. superfl.
Heterotypic
Curcuma pallida Lour., Fl. Cochinch.: 9 (1790)
Erndlia zerumbet Giseke, Prael. Ord. Nat. Pl.: 199 (1792)
Costus luteus Blanco, Fl. Filip.: 4 (1837)
Costus nigricans Blanco, Fl. Filip., ed. 2: 3 (1845)
Roscoea lutea (Blanco) Hassk., Flora 47: 21 (1864), nom. illeg.
Roscoea nigrociliata Hassk., Flora 47: 21 (1864)
Curcuma raktakanta Mangaly & M.Sabu, J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 12: 475 (1988 publ. 1989)
Curcuma malabarica Velay., Amalraj & Mural., J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 14: 189 (1990)

References
Primary references

Roscoe, W. 1807. A New Arrangement of the Plants of the Monandrian Class usually called Scitamineae. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London Vol. 8, p. 330-357. [C. zedoaria on p. 354].

Additional references

de Loureiro, João: In: Flora Cochinchinensis, sister plantas in regno Cochinchina nascentes, p. 9 (1790): [C. pallida].
Wright, C.H.: Enumeration of all the plants known from China proper, Formosa, Hainan, The Corea, The Luchu Archipelago and the Island of Hong Kong. In: Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany Vol. 36 (No. 249/250), p. 67-75 (1903), ISSN 0368-2927, CODEN JLLBAW.
Merrill, E.D.: A commentary on Loureiro's "Flora Cochinchinensis" In: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society N.S. Vol. 24, p. 1-445 (1935), ISSN 0065-9746, CODEN TAPSAY, [Notes on Zingiberaceae on p. 116-120].
Salisbury, Richard Anthony: On the Cultivation of Rare Plants, especially such as have been introduced since the Death of Mr. Philip Miller. In: Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London Vol. 1, p. 261-366 (1815), name of C. officinalis on p. 285.
Link, Heinrich Friedrich: In: Enumeratio plantarum horti regii botanici Berolinensis altera pt. 1, p. 3 (1821); [C. speciosa]. [Online at Gallica]: [1].
Roxburgh, William: In: Flora Indica or Description of Indian Plants (ed.: Carey, W.), Vol. 1, p. 1-82 (1820), Serampore, [C. zerumbet on p. 20].
Roxburgh, W.: Description of several of the Monandrous Plants of India belonging to the natural order called Scitamineae by Linnaeus; Cannae by Jussiue, and Drimyrhizae by Ventenat. In: Asiatic Researches, or: Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal for inquiring the history and antiquities, the arts, science, and literature, of Asia Vol. 11, p. 318-362 (1810), [C. zerumbet on p. 333].
Thwaites, G.H.K.: In: Enumeratio plantarum Zeylaniae: an enumeration of Ceylon plants with description of the new and little-known genera and species, observations and their habitats, uses, native names, etc. (editor: Hooker, Joseph Dalton), Chapter CLXVI Zingiberaceae, p. 315-320 (1864), Dulau & Co., London [C. zerumbet].
Ridley, H.N.: The Scitamineae of the Malay Peninsula. In: Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (no. 32), p. 85-184 (1899), [C. zedoaria on p. 119].
Baker, John Gilbert: In: Flora of British India (ed.: Josef Dalton Hooker) Vol. 6 (1890, publ. 1894) Chapter CXLIX: Scitamineae (p. 198-263), sub-chapter Curcuma Linn. (p. 209-216), Lovell Reeve & Co., London, [C. zedoaria on p. 210].
Schumann, K.: Zingiberaceae. In: Das Pflanzenreich (ed. A. Engler) Vol. IV, pt. 46 (no. 20), p. 110 (1904), [Curcuma sp. on p. 99-115].
Valeton, Th.: New Notes on the Zingiberaceae of Java and Malaya. In: Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg Ser. 2, Vol. 27, p. 1-163 (1918), ISSN 0215-8906, CODEN BJBBAG, [C. zedoaria on p. 57-61].
Burtt, B.L.. Curcuma zedoaria. In: Gardens´ Bulletin (Singapore) Vol. 30, p. 59-62 (1977), ISSN 0374-7859, CODEN GABUAV.
Burtt, B.L.: The nomenclature of turmeric and other Ceylon Zingiberaceae. In: Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Vol. 35 (no. 2), p. 209-215 (1977/78), ISSN 0080-4274, CODEN NRYBAD.
Balakrishnan, N.P.; Bhargava, N.: The genus Curcuma Linn. (Zingiberaceae) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In: Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society Vol. 81, p. 510-514 (1984), ISSN 0006-6982, CODEN JBOMAA.
Mangaly, J.K.; Sabu, M.: A taxonomic revision of the South Indian species of Curcuma L. (Zingiberaceae). In: Rheedea Vol. 3 (no. 2), p. 139-171 (1993), ISSN 0971-2313, CODEN RHEEE2.
Wu, T.L.: Curcuma Linn. In: 产浙江瑞安 (= Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinica) Vol. 16 (pt. 2), p. 58-64 (1981); (Chinese edition); online: [2].

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Curcuma zedoaria in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Aug. 12. Reference page.
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. [3]

Vernacular names
suomi: Keralankurkuma
italiano: Zedoària

Curcuma zedoaria (zedoary, white turmeric, or temu putih) is a perennial herb and member of the genus Curcuma, family Zingiberaceae. The plant is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia but is now naturalized in other places including the US state of Florida.[2] Zedoary was one of the ancient food plants of the Austronesian peoples. They were spread during prehistoric times to the Pacific Islands and Madagascar during the Austronesian expansion (c. 5,000 BP).[3] Its use as a spice in the West today is extremely rare, having been replaced by ginger, and to a lesser extent, yellow turmeric.
Contents

1 Characteristics
2 Uses
2.1 Food
2.2 Houseplant
2.3 In traditional medicine
2.4 Others
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Characteristics

Zedoary grows in tropical and subtropical wet forest regions. The fragrant plant bears yellow flowers with red and green bracts and the underground stem section, a rhizome, is large and tuberous with numerous branches. The leaf shoots of the zedoary are large and can reach 1 meter (3 feet) in height.
Uses
Food

The edible rhizome of zedoary has a white interior and a fragrance reminiscent of mango. However, its flavour is more similar to ginger, except with a very bitter aftertaste. In Indonesia, it is ground to a powder and added to make white curry pastes, whereas in India, it tends to be used fresh or in pickling. In Thai cuisine it is used raw and cut in thin strips in certain Thai salads. It can also be served cut into thin slices together with other herbs and vegetables with certain types of nam phrik (Thai chilli pastes).It is also used in India to flavour dals and chutneys.
Houseplant

The showy C. zedoaria is occasionally used as a houseplant.[4]
In traditional medicine

The plant is used traditionally to treat inflammation, pain, and a variety of skin ailments including wounds, as well as menstrual irregularities and ulcers.[5]
Others

The essential oil produced from the dried rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria is used in perfumery and soap fabrication, as well as an ingredient in bitter tonics. The curcuminoid 1,7-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,4,6-heptatrien-3-one, and the sesquiterpenes procurcumenol and epiprocurcumenol can be found in C. zedoaria.[6]
See also

Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia

References

The Plant List
Flora of North America
Kikusawa, Ritsuko; Reid, Lawrence A. (2007). "Proto who utilized turmeric, and how?". In Siegel, Jeff; Lynch, John; Eades, Diana (eds.). Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley (PDF). John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 339–352. ISBN 9789027292940.
Vermeulen, Nico; Rosenfleld, Richard (1998). Encyclopedia of House Plants. REBO Productions. p. 157. ISBN 9781579581084.
Ullah, HM Arif; Zaman, Sayera; Juhara, Fatematuj; Akter, Lucky; Tareq, Syed Mohammed; Masum, Emranul Haque; Bhattacharjee, Rajib (2014-09-22). "Evaluation of antinociceptive, in-vivo & in-vitro anti-inflammatory activity of ethanolic extract of Curcuma zedoaria rhizome". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 14: 346. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-346. ISSN 1472-6882. PMC 4190444. PMID 25242194.
A Curcuminoid and Sesquiterpenes as Inhibitors of Macrophage TNF-α Release from Curcuma zedoaria. Mi Kyung Jang, Dong Hwan Sohn and Jae-Ha Ryu, Planta Med., 2001, volume 67, issue 6, pages 550-552, doi:10.1055/s-2001-16482