姜黄 jiang huang

Curcuma domestica Valeton.

Plants ca. 1 m tall. Rhizomes many branched, orange or bright yellow, cylindric, aromatic; roots tuberous at tip. Petiole 20--45 cm; leaf blade green, oblong or elliptic, 30--45(--90) × 15--18 cm, glabrous, base attenuate, apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescences terminal on pseudostems; peduncle 12--20 cm; spike cylindric, 12--18 × 4--9 cm; fertile bracts pale green, ovate or oblong, 3--5 cm, apex obtuse; coma bracts spreading, white and green, sometimes tinged reddish purple, apex acute. Calyx white, 0.8--1.2 cm, puberulent, apex unequally 3-toothed. Corolla pale yellow; tube to 3 cm; lobes deltoid, 1--1.5 cm, central one larger, apex mucronate. Lateral staminodes shorter than labellum. Labellum yellowish with central, yellow band, obovate, 1.2--2 cm. Anther spurred at base. Ovary sparsely hairy. Fl. Aug.

Cultivated. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [native origin unknown; cultivated throughout tropical Asia].

Used medicinally and for spice.