Curcuma mangga

taxobox
name = "Curcuma mangga"
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Monocots
unranked_ordo = Commelinids
ordo = Zingiberales
familia = Zingiberaceae
genus = "Curcuma"
species = "C. mangga"
binomial = "Curcuma mangga"
binomial_authority = Valeton & van Zijp|

"Curcuma mangga" (mango ginger) is a plant of the ginger family Zingiberaceae and is closely related to turmeric. The rhizomes are very similar to ginger but have a raw mango taste. They are used in making pickles in south India.

Family Zingiberaceae

Herbs perennial , terrestrial , rarely epiphytic, aromatic , with fleshy , tuberous or non-tuberous rhizomes, often with tuber-bearing roots . Stems usually short, replaced by pseudostems formed by leaf sheaths . Leaves distichous, simple , those toward base of plant usually bladeless and reduced to sheaths; leaf sheath open; ligule usually present; petiole present or not, located between leaf blade and sheath, cushionlike in Zingiber; leaf blade suborbicular or lanceolate to narrowly strap-shaped , rolled longitudinally in bud, glabrous or hairy , midvein prominent , lateral veins usually numerous , pinnate, parallel, margin entire . Inflorescence terminal on pseudostems or on separate, short, sheath-covered shoots arising from rhizomes, cylindric or fusiform , sometimes globose , lax to dense, few to many flowered, sometimes with bracteolate cincinni in bract axils and then a thyrse , sometimes a raceme or spike; bracts and bracteoles present, often conspicuous , colored . Flowers bisexual , epigynous , zygomorphic. Calyx usually tubular , thin, split on 1 side, sometimes spathelike, apex 3-toothed or -lobed. Corolla proximally tubular, distally 3-lobed; lobes varying in size and shape . Stamens or staminodes 6, in 2 whorls. Lateral 2 staminodes of outer whorl petaloid, or forming small teeth at base of labellum, or adnate to labellum, or absent. Median staminode of outer whorl always reduced. Labellum formed from lateral 2 staminodes of inner whorl. Fertile stamen median, of inner whorl; filament long or short; anther locules 2, introrse , dehiscing by slits or occasionally pores ; connective often extended basally into spurs and/or apically into a crest . Ovary inferior, 3-loculed initially, 1- or 3-loculed when mature ; ovules ± numerous per locule; placentation parietal , basal, or axile . Developed style 1, very thin, placed in a furrow in filament and between anther locules; stigma appearing above anther, funnelform , papillose , ± wet, margin often ciliate . Stylodes 2, reduced to nectaries at apex of ovary. Fruit a capsule, fleshy or dry, dehiscent or indehiscent, sometimes berrylike. Seeds few to many, arillate ; aril often lobed or lacerate .

About 50 genera and 1300 species: pantropical with center of diversity in S and SE Asia, some species in America and subtropical and warm-temperate Asia; 20 genera (one endemic) and 216 species (141 endemic, four introduced ) in China. [http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/C/Curcuma_mangga/default.asp]

Genus Curcuma

Pseudostems absent. Inflorescences from rhizome branch without basal leaves [projecting among basal leaves] , dense, cylindric ; bracts of main axis crowded, [2--] 4--9 cm, ovate to narrowly ovate or rectangular; cincinni sessile, 2--7-flowered, enclosed in bracts; bracteoles small, inconspicuous, hidden by bracts. Flowers: calyx short-cylindric, minutely 2--3-toothed, split down one side; corolla tube funnelform , lobes ovate or oblong ; filament rectangular, plane ; anther enclosed in corolla, base spurred , terminal appendage sometimes present, lingulate ; lateral staminodes large, petal-like, lip concave , rounded or 2-fid. Fruits capsule, ellipsoid . x = 11, 21. [http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/C/Curcuma_mangga/default.asp]