Turmeric
Got a turmeric plant as a birthday present a couple of years ago. It needs to be an indoor plant in Europe, though in the tropics it grows outdoors. I usually manage to kill indoor plants systematically: I get them myself, or like in this case, as a gift, and then fail to water them or give them too much water, or … well, something goes wrong and the plant dies. So did the original gift turmeric in some months. But then I dug up the tubers, and replanted them the following year in multiple small indoor pots. To my surprise, new plants grew from each! The turmeric turned out to be quite resilient after all!
This heat-loving, long-blooming tropical plant produces gorgeous spires of pink, purple, or white flowers all summer long.
| Botanical name | Curcuma longa, Curcuma domestica; another species in the genus is Curcuma aromatica (see Flowers of India link below) |
| English names | Turmeric |
| Nederlandse naam | Kurkuma, geelwortel |
| Indian names | Hindi: Haldi हल्दी |
Characteristics
| Native habitat | south Asia, Indian sub-continent | |||
| Plant Type | perennial herb | |||
| Bloom time | Fall color | |||
| Fruit | ||||
| Uses | – Medicinal / health (anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial), |
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Special notes
India is the world’s largest producer, consumer, and exporter of turmeric. People have been using turmeric there for at least 2,500 years.
https://www.kew.org/plants/turmeric
Turmeric is an important spice in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine that adds a bittersweet flavour and bright yellow colour to curry. It is extracted from the rhizome, an underground horizontal stem that resembles a tuberous root. Turmeric is an important medicinal herb for its anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activity.
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/1/9/1904