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12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1

Curcuma heyneana Valeton & v. Zijp

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Curcuma in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 2, 27: 54 (1918).

Indonesia: temu giring (Javanese).

Java, mostly in Central and East Java, both wild and cultivated.

Rhizomes are the principal ingredient of a body lotion or powder used in traditional Javanese skin treatment, often administered to the bride-to-be. The bitter rhizomes are given, together with other medicinal herbs, to treat fatty degeneration, also as a folk medicine for brides to combat fatigue. They are also often applied in modern beauty parlours. Rhizomes are also considered to be cooling and detergent, useful to treat skin diseases, abrasions and injuries, and are used as an anthelmintic, especially against pinworms, and against lipomatosis in combination with other plants. They yield starch that can be made into a porridge.

A herb with much branched and elongated rhiome, outside pale yellow, inside whitish with yellowish centre to bright yellow throughout; leaf sheaths 22-35 cm long, blades elliptical, 17.5-42 cm x 7.5-13 cm, uniformly green; inflorescence on a separate shoot, bracts pale green, coma bracts pale pink with a dark tip; corolla about 4 cm long, whitish; labellum about 16 mm x 16 mm, white with a dark yellow median band to yellow, other staminodes longitudinally folded, whitish to yellow, anther with short spurs. Curcuma heyneana grows wild in secondary forest, teak forest and abandoned places, up to 750 m altitude.

[97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
[202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
[314] Darwis SN, Madjo Indo, A.B.D. & Hasiyah, S., 1991. Tumbuhan obat famili Zingiberaceae [Medicinal plants of the Zingiberaceae]. Seri Pengembangan No. 17. Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Tanaman Industri, Bogor, Indonesia. 103 pp.
[380] Dulawan, M.J.K. & Soriano, N.R., 1991. Antibacterial property of gatas-gatas plant. BSc thesis pharmacy. Manila Central University, the Philippines.
[1496] Valeton, T., 1918. New notes on the Zingiberaceae of Java and the Malayan Archipelago. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série II, 27: 1-167.
[1507] van Steenis, C.G.G.J., 1949. Plumbaginaceae. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (General editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 4. Noordhoff-Kolff N.V., Djakarta, Indonesia. pp. 107-112.

Trimurti H. Wardini & Budi Prakoso

Wardini, T.H. & Prakoso, B., 1999. Curcuma heyneana Valeton & v. Zijp. In: de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea