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12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1

Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.

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

Fl. ind. (Carey ed.) 1: 25 (1820).

Indonesia: koneng gede (Sundanese), temu lawak (Javanese), temo labak (Madurese). Malaysia: temu lawas, temu raya (Peninsular). Thailand: wan chakmotluk (central). Vietnam: ngh[eej] v[af]ng, ngh[eej] r[eex] v[af]ng.

Curcuma xanthorrhiza is native to Java, Bali and the Moluccas. It is commonly cultivated in Java, Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, occasionally also in India.

Rhizomes are used to treat various abdominal complaints and liver disorders (jaundice, gallstones, promoting the flow of bile). A decoction of the rhizome is also used as a remedy for fever and constipation, and taken by women as a galactagogue and to lessen uterine inflammation after giving birth. Other applications are against bloody diarrhoea, dysentery, inflammation of the rectum, haemorrhoids, stomach disorders caused by cold, infected wounds, skin eruptions, acne vulgaris, eczema, smallpox and anorexia. In Indonesia, rhizomes enter as an important ingredient into many 'jamus'. They yield a starch, and a yellow dye. Young stems and rhizome parts are eaten as a vegetable either raw or cooked. The inflorescences are eaten cooked. In Java, a soft drink called 'bir temu lawak' is prepared by cooking dried pieces of rhizomes.

A herb with branched rhizome, outside dark yellow to reddish-brown, inside orange or orange-red; leaf sheaths up to 75 cm long, blades elliptical-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 25-100 cm x 8-20 cm, green with a reddish-brown band along the midrib; inflorescence on a separate shoot, bracts pale green, coma bracts purple; corolla 4-6 cm long, pale red; labellum 2-2.5 cm x 1.5-2 cm, yellowish with a darker yellow median band, other staminodes longitudinally folded, yellowish-white, anther with long spurs. Curcuma xanthorrhiza is found in thickets and teak forest, mainly on moist, fertile, humus-rich soils, up to 750 m altitude.

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Trimurti H. Wardini & Budi Prakoso

Wardini, T.H. & Prakoso, B., 1999. Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.. 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