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.
It is a member of the Ginger family – the Zingiberaceae – and is in the same genus, Curcuma, as the plant that produces turmeric. Dave’s Botanary tells me that the genus name Curcuma comes from the Arabic kurkum, meaning saffron. Now saffron comes from a crocus, which is not even a member of the ginger family, so this is a bit of a blind alley, and I don’t know what to make of it.
Wikipedia has this to say about the genus:
Curcuma is a genus of about 80 accepted species in the plant family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam Tulip. Since assembly of the genus Curcuma by Linnaeus in 1753 about 130 species have been described so far. Some of the species descriptions are without Latin diagnosis or type specimen, therefore the legitimate status of many species is suspicious and remains unclear.
I tried for awhile to track down the species name for our Panamanian Curcuma, even though the above paragraph was a little discouraging. A cultivar is given the botanical name Curcuma ‘Panama Purple’ at Gingers R Us, but it seems to be a collected Curcuma zedoaria, as far as I can piece together from some information from a friend of Carla’s and from the Gingers R Us web site.
In fact, so little is known about the distribution of Curcuma zedoaria that the map from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility shows only one location in Florida and another in Indonesia (squint tight and look for tiny yellow dots).
The species name zedoaria is a Latinized form of ancient Perisan name for this herb – zedoary – which is a bitter spice plant sometimes used in Thai cooking. Curcuma zedoaria is also known as “white turmeric” in India where it is considered a weed. However its rhizome has a smell similar to turmeric and mango and has many medicinal uses in India.
The yellow flower appears within the purple or green bracts of the shoot. I’ve read that Curcumas are insect-pollinated, but nearly every day when I look out the kitchen window I see a hummingbird exploring the flowers (I never have my camera, of course!). The plant certainly has the right colors for hummingbird pollination, but I’ve found no reference to such anywhere on the web.
As an ornamental, Curcumas are grown for their foliage. I mentioned earlier that the leaves emerge after the flowers do. Here comes the first leaf in the stand I see out the kitchen window:
It has a nice purple midrib, which is one of its appeals as a foliage plant. Later on, the leaves take over the stand:
You can just see the flowers peaking out from beneath the leaves. Sometimes you can’t see them at all, hence the common name for Curcumas – “hidden ginger.”
Although Curcumas are grown for their foliage, the foliage does die back every year. By the time the foliage dies back the flowers are long since gone. Perhaps this year I will take it upon myself to track the flowers and see just exactly how long they do last under that forest of leaves.
Nice informative post about this commonly seen plant. I’m always impressed by how tough this plant is, and the fact that it seems to grow everywhere around here. Love the fact that it naturalizes so easily! Great way to fill in some difficult spots.
Turmeric is often used as a coloring substitute for saffron, because it is much cheaper, but similarly “golden” (s.l.). The flavor of course is not comparable.
We can supply Indian Medicinal Herbs, Leaves, Seeds, Bark, Stems, Roots, etc….. in Raw form and Powder form. Also, we can supply Herbal Extracts and Essential Oils.
We herewith enclose some of our products:-
Curcuma zeodaria root& Powder
Soap Nut Shell,Ashwagandha,
Moringa leaves, seeds, Hibicus
Senna Leaves, Shilajit, Basil,
Emblica, Hibiscus, squill, fennel
Black Pepper, Cloves, Ginger,
Neem Oil, Seeds,leaf ,Bark etc..
For more details kindly visit our website : http://www.mssasan.com
Normally I would mark a comment like this as spam, but I have followed this site and I know that it is legitimate. I have abbreviated the original comment so that it is somewhat appropriate for this post.
Mary
Kristen Albrecht Llamas’s “Tropical Flowering Plants” indicates that the curcuma zedoaria is a native of India. She writes that it grows in zones 8-11 but notes: “Prefers the longer dormancy period at the cooler end of its range.”
Thanks for the information, Bonnie. It’s interesting that the people of India consider it a weed, but then, in many places the native plants are taken for granted, aren’t they?
Maybe I didn’t make it clear, but I’m not absolutely certain that our Panamanian Curcuma is really C. zedoaria. That’s just the closest I could come to an identification. Whether it’s C. zedoaria or some cultivar of that species or something else all together, it does seem to do quite well in Panama, at least in our area.
i have a curcuma plant can i leave it outside. in the summer thank you
Hello Brigida,
I’m sorry, but I do not know anything about curcuma’s requirements in a garden outside the tropics. You might try Dave’s Garden. You can ask them a gardening question and someone will likely know the answer!
Good luck.
Mary
I just found a curcuma plant on my farm that I recently bought. Its a beautiful flower. I thought it was something special but its seems pretty common.
I know nothing about flowers. I live on a farm in the middle of colombia 1000m asl, 25 degrees and sunny all year round and lots of rain in the afternoons.
I would love to get more of these flowers, how can I encourage it to breed
Hi Shaun,
You probably don’t need to do anything special to encourage these flowers to breed. They seem to do it on their own! They are bulb plants. You’ll see at the end of the foliage season that the leaves start to turn yellow and droop. You can at that point cut the leaves back. If you dig around a little, you’ll see the bulbs. Take some and plant them elsewhere. Then you’ll have the Curcuma reproducing at its original spot and also putting up new flowers at the new spot. If you don’t do this, you’ll find your original bed will just expand and expand and expand. Either way is fine.
Enjoy!
Mary
Am sure it is native plant of India and based on pictures (Flowers (pinkish) and purple mid-rib), it is called “Curcuma Caesia” or “Black Turmeric” and widely used Indian Medicinal Herb for several uses. You couldn’t post picture of its Rhizome, if so we can identify the plant very easily. You please check out its Rhizome, it is Bluish Black, smells like Pungent because of Camphor’s % in rhizome.
The name of the nursery was Bay City Flower Company in Half Moon Bay. It’s so beautiful! I tried keeping some bulbs from there but they got lost when I moved, maybe I will try to contact them and get some more along with some growing info and get back to you.
Kind of familiar traditional plant in our country, Indonesia. It is called: Curcumae Xanthorhizae Rhizoma. Grow up very easily without any attention, especially during dry season.
Has been used as traditional medicine, especially for liver, even local medical doctors admit this curcuma to be very good and helpful for liver problems.
I have my own testimony that my SGOT/SGPT was high and I was cured only because I drank curcuma extract powder periodically.
Anybody need it in capsulized extract powder for maintaining liver’s health, please e mail me. The stuff is very cheap in our country, but maybe the freight is not.
Hi,
Google search broght me to your very colorful page on Curuma Caesia! I found them growing in our nursery and was totally lost to its beauty.Happened to see them after the Easter holidays. The name”Resurrection” certainly fits them.
Checked with the Jesuit enviornmentalit, Fr. Athickal to see if the botanical name was accurate. He was not sure.
Called locally as Black turmeric, the plant is a surprise item in any garden. I have read up what you have written and found your page very informative.
Great!
Margaret Molomoo
Tarumitra, India
Hello Margeret,
Thank you for commenting and for your appreciation of this beautiful plant. I’ve been meaning to update the post to say that this plant growing here in Panama is not Black Tumeric even though it may look very much like that species. The rhizomes of this plant are a pale beige, nary a tinge of black or blue to them.
Such a correction does not detract from the visual delight this plant gives, and I’m glad you enjoyed reading about it here. I’m also delighted to learn that the seasonal blooming of your plant in India is similar to that here.
Thanks again,
Mary
I planted this beauty in my mom’s garden about 7 years ago – been trying to find one for my house for the past two years finally found one today! They are absolutely one of the most beautiful and interesting flowers I have seen – I have potted mine as I am renting – should I bring it in for the winter season? I live in Panama City Florida.
Thanks!
Paige
Paige, It is beautiful, isn’t it? A question – does your Mom’s plant die back in the winter? Here in Panama, the leaves begin to turn yellow, then brown in late November, early December. We cut the leaves back then. At that point, you could dig up the tubers and take them inside for the winter. I think that would be the safest bet. Then put them back in the ground when it gets warm, say early March. If you leave some of the tubers in the ground and take the rest inside, that would be a good way to learn whether the ones outside will survive. If they don’t, you’ll still have the ones you took inside. I hope this makes sense to you. Good luck. I haven’t tired of this plant yet. ~ Mary
My Curcumas are light pink in color and have blueish small flowers that bloom from the cone area. The leaves come first and then the flowers. I would love to know what kind they may be if someone knows. I wish I could post a photo too. I love them and was very surprised to see them return the year after we planted them. We live in S. Florida and don’t have to take them out of the ground. I don’t know much about bulbs…but if we move to NC, I would like to take them with me and hope they will grow there too. Sue K.
Pingback: Curcuma Quiz | A Neotropical Savanna
I will take a wild guess and say C. alismatifolia. I know it is widely cultivated and there are many hybrids, so it would not be too surprising to see it in Florida, far from its Thai home.
hi , …
what is the procedure for obtaining a large size image of Curcuma Angustifolia (turmeric)-close up. …
Sadhana Majumdar
Sadhana,
I decided to post an edited version of your comment because it appears you have not received the email I sent to you. I have re-sent it, but if you still do not hear from me, please try writing to me directly at panamaplants @ gmail . com (omitting spaces, of course).
Thanks.
Mary
i used this plant for my project and its excellent.
I live in North Wales and bought a lovely specimin from my local supermarket yesterday!! I am assuming it will be OK as a house plant as I live on the seaside and it isn’t very warm this time of yesr.
WAT MOET IK DOEN ALS DE BLOEM VAN DE STEEL AFVALT? WIE HELPT MIJAUB? who can help me please? the flower falls off bij his weaght and do not know what to do know,?? who will answer me please I live in belgium europe and the flower is growing inside the flat thanks for answer please !!!! mandyke1956@hotmail.com
greetings mandy belgum
Mandy,
A reader might be able to help you, but I am afraid I cannot. I know nothing about growing Curcumas inside, and even less about growing them in a temperate climate. I hope you find a solution.
Mary
Hey Mary,
Have you looked at the Encyclopedia of Life? They would love contributions from you and you could make a real impact. They collaborate with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and provide species distribution information to them. http://www.eol.org.
TDWG is another group you might find stimulating. Three of their main 5 sponsors are the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Smithsonian Institution and the Missouri Botanical Library (this last I may have the name wrong), interestingly enough to you. http://www.tdwg.org We call it ‘tad-wig’ and it’s about the marriage between IT people and taxonomists, with botanists being by far the biggest chunk of taxonomists. They are a standards group which may not be interesting but so much of the ‘in the trenches’ work of plant identification also creeps into the discussions.
Well, Dicky, nice to hear from you in this venue.
Yes, I have made a contribution or two to EOL. However tad-wig is new to me, and I thank you for the introduction. I’ll be delving more deeply there. One of my favorite resources is the Biodiversity Heritage Library and I wonder whether there’s some connection with TDWG there.
Also, for my purposes, TROPICOS from MoBot Gardens is a gem, and I also like ZipCodeZoo.
Thanks for showing up here!