Curcuma caulina J.Graham

A ginger family herb which develops tubers. It has an underground rhizome or stem. The tubers are round and about 10 cm across. They are covered with fibrous roots. It keeps growing from year to year. It has an erect, unbranched leafy stem 0.9-1.2 m high. The leaves are oval to sword shaped and 30-50 cm long by 7.5-10 cm wide. The flowers are yellow. The flowers have a long stalk and are on a central spike. The tubers are the size of an orange. They have white flesh and covered with fibrous roots.

It is a tropical plant. It grows in wet areas in the hot tropics. It suits a monsoonal area with annual rainfall of 5,000 mm or higher. It is grown on the edge of irrigation canals. It needs hot, moist conditions. It grows in forest areas where the annual rainfall is 7,500 mm. It grows on the Deccan.

The tubers can be used to produce arrowroot starch. The tubers are cleaned, grated, washed and sieved and re-washed and then sun-dried.

Plants can be grown from cuttings of the rhizomes. It is grown from tuber cuttings. It is often planted very densely. There can be 51,000 plants per hectare.