Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 475 > Zingiberaceae > Curcuma

61. Curcuma zedoarioides Chaveer. & Taneewfo-0000912132

J. Syst. Evol. 46(1): 86. 2008.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Main rhizome erect, broadly conical, 10–12 by 3–5 cm, branches 8–10 by 2.5–3 cm, growing downwards, internally pale green to yellow, fragrant; root tubers ovoid or conical. Leafy shoot 0.7–1 m tall with 5–7 leaves; leaf sheaths 25–40 cm long, green, glabrous; ligule shallowly bilobed, 2–3 mm long; blades oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 70–100 by 15–18 cm, above green with a reddish purple patch along midrib, glabrous, below hairy; petiole 8–12 cm long or more. Inflorescence lateral, 15–18 cm long; peduncles 25–28 cm long, basally with 4–5 sheaths, elliptic with emarginate, mucronate apex, 3.5–6.5 by 2–2.3 cm, apex green, both surfaces glabrous; thyrse cylindrical, composed of 15–18 fertile bracts and 4–7 coma bracts; fertile bracts broadly ovate with round or acute apex, 4.2–5 by 3.2–3.5 cm, connate at basal ⅓, green with purple margin, glabrous on both surfaces; cincinni with 3–8 flowers; coma bracts ovate-oblong with obtuse apex, 5.8–7 by 3.2–3.5 cm, connate at basal ca ⅕, dark pink, glabrous on both surfaces; bracteoles elliptic-ovate with rounded apex, ca 1 cm long, membranous, white, glabrous on both surfaces. Flower gullet type, 4–4.5 cm long; ovary ca 2 mm long, pubescent; epigynous glands narrowly oblong with acute apex, 4 mm long, light yellow; style filiform; stigma irregularly capitate with two blunt, dorsal bulges, ostiole ciliate; calyx 5–7 mm long, tridentate, with unilateral incision 1–2 mm long, teeth rounded, membranous, pubescent; floral tube 2–2.3 cm long, pale yellow to white, dorsal lobe broadly ovate saccate, hooded with mucronate apex, 1.7–2 by 1.5–1.7 cm, pale yellow to white, externally sparsely pubescent, internally glabrous, lateral corolla lobes ovate with rounded apex, 1.8–2.1 by 1–1.2 cm, pale yellow to white, both surfaces glabrous; lateral staminodes oblong with rounded apex, 1–1.2 by 0.5–0.6 cm, pale yellow; labellum obovate, obscurely trilobed with emarginate apex, 2–2.2 by 1.6–1.8 cm, pale yellow with a dark median band; stamen: filament 0.8–1 cm long, anther spurred, 7–8 by 2–3 mm, anther crest absent, spurs narrowly conical, ca 3 mm long. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Khon Kaen (Nam Phong – type: Chaveerach 614, holotype -BK, isotype -BKF).

Distribution : Endemic.

Ecology : Cultivated.

Vernacular : Wan phaya ngu tua mia (ว่านพญางูตัวเมีย).

Uses: Antidote to snake bites.