Turmeric or Curcuma longa, is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C and high annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered each year for their rhizomes, some for propagation in the following season and some for consumption.
Image: Turmeric inflorescence
Image: Curcuma longa roots
Botanical view of Curcuma longa
Curcuma domestica Valeton, a drawing by A. Bernecker around 1860
Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems about one meter tall, bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoots.
Ginger section
Image: Koeh 146 no text
Image: Ginger inflorescence
Ginger flower