IloveIndia

Fitness IloveIndia

Zedoary

Botanical Name(s): Curcuma Zedoaria
Family Name: Zingiberaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Curcuma
Species: C. zedoaria
Popular Name(s): White Turmeric, Kachur
Parts Used: Rhizomes
Habitat: Weed found all over India.

Description
Zedoary, also known as white turmeric, is a rhizome with a thin brown skin and a bright orange, hard interior. Its smell is similar to that of turmeric and mango. The perennial herb has a warm-spicy, woody and camphoraceous cineolic odor and bears yellow shiny flowers, with red and green bracts. The ovate leaves possess purple-colored spots and are 1 to 2 feet long, narrowing at the base. The fruits are triangular and ovate in shape while the seeds are oval or spear shaped.

Zedoary plant is native to India and Indonesia. However, it is widely used as a spice in the West today. It is also found in sub-tropical regions of eastern Nepal. Because of its mango-like fragrance, zedoary is called amb halad in many Indian languages (amb means mango). Some other common names are kachur in Hindi, karchur in Sanskrit, shatkachuro in Gujarati and Meitei Yaingang in Manipuri. Though zedoary is cultivated throughout India, it is mainly found in eastern Himalayan region and Karnataka.

Plant Chemicals
(+)- germacrone-4, 1,8-cineole, 5-epoxide, germacrone, furanodienone, curzerenone, zederone, dehydrocurdione, curcumenol, isocurcumenol, curcumenone, curmanolide A, curmanolide B.

Uses & Benefits of Zedoary