The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Temulawak, or Java turmeric, is a rhizomatous herb from Java grown mainly for its medicinal and spice rhizomes. It thrives in a warm, humid tropical climate and is grown in open fields or partial shade.
Curcuma zanthorrhiza, known as temulawak, Java ginger, Javanese ginger, or Javanese turmeric is a plant species, belonging to the ginger family. It is known in Javanese as temulawak, in Sundanese as koneng gede (large turmeric) and in Madurese as temu labak. The scientific name is sometimes written as Curcuma xanthorrhiza, but this is an orthographical variant.
This plant originated from Indonesia, more specifically from Java island, out of which it spread to several places in the biogeographical region Malesia. Currently, most of the temu lawak is cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Outside of South East Asia, cultivars may be found also in China, Indochina, Barbados, India, Japan, Korea, the United States and some countries in Europe.
Curcuma xanthorrhiza is used as a medicinal plant. The rhizome contains an ethereal oil (5ml per kg), it primarily consists of Sesquiterpenes. There is also a content of Curcumin (at least 1%, Ph. Eur.) and starch. Curcuma xanthorrhiza is used for dyspepsia. It is a spice too.
Mango ginger · Curcuma · Black Tumeric · Turmeric · Curcuma prakasha · Jewel of Burma · Zedoary · Hidden Lily
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Curcuma zanthorrhiza by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
