Curcuma – The Resurrection Plant
It’s pretty rare that I write up something about cultivated plants – the banana being a notable exception – because my main focus is on learning the plants of the savanna. However, there’s one cultivated plant that I’ve been curious about ever since we moved here.
A well-traveled acquaintance said in those early days that she’d never seen this plant anywhere except in Panama. I thought at the time that maybe it was a native plant, but I’ve learned that’s not so, and that it does occur in places other than Panama. But it wasn’t until our friend Carla (of Heliconia fame) was visiting recently and made a reference to the scientific name of the plant that I thought I’d better look into it a little further.
It shoots up like this at the end of the dry season, and later the leaves come up out of the ground – they’re not attached to the original stalks. Our Panamanian friends call it the “Resurrection Plant.” I’m not sure, but maybe that’s because it often comes up around Easter time.
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