Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 423 > Zingiberaceae > Curcuma

6. Curcuma aromatica Salisb.wfo-0000365436

Parad. Lond.: t.96. 1807.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Rhizome branched, main rhizome ovoid, 5 by 3 cm, internally bright yellow; branches 1.5–2 cm thick, internally bright yellow. Leafy shoot 0.8–1 m tall; bladeless sheaths 12–27 cm long, hairy; leaf sheaths 45–55 cm long, green, puberulent; ligule obscurely bilobed, 1.5 mm long, membranous; blades oblanceolate, 30–50 by 7–11 cm, green with red patch along midrib, glabrous on both surfaces, base cuneate, apex acuminate; petiole 0–5 cm long, glabrous. Inflorescence lateral, 30 cm tall; peduncle puberulent, 15 cm long; bracts elliptic with acute apex, 4–4.5 by 2.5–3 cm, puberulent on both surfaces; bracteoles broadly elliptic with obtuse apex, 1.5–1.7 by ca 1.3 cm, hairy along ridges. Flower gullet type; ovary barrel-shaped, ca 4 mm long, hairy in upper half; epigynous glands cylindrical, 5 mm long, apex acute; stigma 1 mm diam., ostiole lateral, ciliate; calyx 8 mm long, apex shallowly tridentate, with unilateral incision ca 4 mm, hairy at base and along ridges; floral tube ca 2.7 cm long, glabrous, corolla lobes 1.3–1.5 by 0.7–0.8 cm, glabrous, dorsal corolla lobe hooded, acute, mucronate, hairy at apex, lateral corolla lobes slightly concave, apex obtuse; lateral staminodes broadly obovate with truncate apex, ca 1.2 by 0.9 cm, with glandular hair on inner surface; labellum trilobed, ca 2 by 2 cm, side-lobes rounded, mid-lobe emarginate, glandular hairy on inner surface, denser along either side of median band; stamen: filament ca 3 by 4 mm, with glandular hair; anther spurred, ca 4 by 2.5 mm, hairy, spurs acute, pointing downwards, ca 2.5 mm long, thecae ca 4 mm long, dehiscing throughout their length. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : Cultivated.

Distribution : India, Myanmar.

Ecology : Cultivated.

Vernacular : Wan nang kham (ว่านนางคำ).

Uses: Used medicinally for treating prurigo, bruises, arthritis and gastrointestinal disorders.

Notes: The above description is not a good match to the original description of Curcuma aromatica. This name is applied to a number of different taxa from India to Vietnam but the identity of C. aromatica remains enigmatic. Only further research into the origin of the material seen by Salisbury will resolve this question.