Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 433 > Zingiberaceae > Curcuma

16. Curcuma cochinchinensis Gagnep.wfo-0000365491

Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54: 404. 1907.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Rhizome branched, main rhizome ovoid, 1–2 by 2–3 cm, internally whitish; branches very short. Leafy shoot 20–35 cm tall with 4 leaves; leaf sheaths pubescent; ligule bilobed with obtuse apices, 0.5–1.1 cm long, pubescent; petiole 2–17 cm long, glabrous or with dense, short hairs; blades ovate to obovate-lanceolate, 12–35 by 6.5–11 cm, glabrous above, with dense short hairs below, base rounded or cuneate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence central; peduncle 2–5 cm long, densely puberulent; thyrse 4–6 cm long; bracts with obtuse or acute apex, 3–4 by 1.7–3 cm, pale yellow to pink, glabrous or hairy; bracteoles elliptic-ovate, ca 8 by 4 mm, with hairs along mid-vein, apex hooded. Flower gullet type; ovary subglobose, ca 3 mm long, pilose; epigynous glands cylindrical, ca 5 mm long, apex acute; stigma ca 1 mm diam., with lateral ostiole; calyx ca 1.6 cm long, apex tridentate, with unilateral incision ca 7 mm long, with scattered fine hairs; floral tube 3.2 cm long, with scattered fine hairs; corolla lobes ca 1.2 by 0.7–0.9 cm, dorsal corolla lobe hooded, with acuminate, mucronate apex, white, glabrous, lateral corolla lobes shallowly boat-shaped, with rounded to truncate apex, white, glabrous; lateral staminodes broadly elliptic with obtuse apex, ca 1.5 by 1.2 cm; labellum broadly obovate, ca 1.5 by 1.2 cm, apex bilobed with ca 5 mm long incision, white with median band, with short hairs, denser along edges of median band; stamen: filament ca 2 by 5 mm, with short hairs on both sides; anther spurred, ca 6 mm long, spurs ca 1 mm long, filamentose, incurved, anther crest quadrangular with truncate apex, ca 1 by 1 mm. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Kamphaeng Phet, Tak; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan.

Distribution : Vietnam (type).

Ecology : Mixed evergreen forests, 50–300 m alt. Flowering: July–August.

Vernacular : Maha udom khao (มหาอุดมขาว).

Notes: Curcuma cochinchinensis as treated here is a complex which includes considerable variation. Further research may result in the recognition of a number of species in this complex.