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Plant for ID : Nasik : 251011 : AK-1: 
A plant growing at a private farm
at Nasik, Maharashtra.

Picture taken on the 24 th of August,11.
Was told it is some medicinal plant.
Leaves resembled that of Curcuma sp.
No flowers or fruits seen.

Curcuma sp. of Zingiberaceae family.


I too thought the leaves looked as that of some Curcuma.
Haven’t come across leaves with that dark line earlier.

काली हलदी or काळी हळद


This could be Curcuma zedoaria (sham haldi?).


Oh, thats difficult to make out from the leaf. Why not Curcuma caesia?


Please collect few rhizome, cut open and see the color within. If the rhizome is blue within then this could be Curcuma aeruginosa.
Please try get the flowers (if it is C. aeruginosa the flowering season is April-May).


Blue ring is also there in C. caesia …


Without flower it is very difficult to identify the Curcuma species.
May be this plant is, C. aeruginosa, C. xanthorrhiza or C. caesia (Syn: C. zeodaria)
We can easily differenciate this three species without flower by rhizome character and hairy nature.
C. aeruginosa : After its maturity the rhizome shows bluish or violet rings
C. xanthorrhiza : Rhizome colour yellow.
C. caesia : Of course the rhizome shows the bluish olour. But we can identify this species by the hairy nature. In this species the hairs are present in the upper part of leaf. This is the only one Curcuma sp. showing this character.