Curcuma soloensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Protologue: Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 2, 27: 46 (1918).

Vernacular names

Java; fairly widely cultivated in Central Java.

Rhizomes are used in the preparation of many traditional medicines against boils, scabies, cough and fever, and are especially used for children.

A herb with branched rhizome, outside orange or orange-brown, inside orange-yellow.
Leaf blades elliptical, 29-55 cm × 12.5-19 cm, green.
Inflorescence terminal on a leafy shoot, bracts very pale green, coma bracts nearly white at base, dark violet towards the top.
Corolla about 5 cm long, pale pink; labellum 15-16 mm × 16-17 mm, orange, other staminodes longitudinally folded, orange, anther with long spurs.

C. soloensis is found in teak forest and similar habitats, up to 900 m altitude.

Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
Valeton, T., 1918. New notes on the Zingiberaceae of Java and the Malayan Archipelago. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série II, 27: 1-167.