Curcuma caesia
species of plant, Black Turmeric
Curcuma caesia, black turmeric or black zedoary, is a perennial herb with bluish-black rhizomes that is native to northeast India.
Preparation
The cultivation and harvest practices are similar to those of common turmeric. In the fields, the rhizomes are washed thoroughly and are placed in a wide mouthed cauldron. The water is poured in the cauldron such that the rhizomes are completely covered. The cauldron is covered with a lid, and the rhizomes are boiled for about 30 minutes until foam oozes out with a strong odour. The rhizomes are taken out when the water is reduced to one-third of the original and they are soft and their inner portion has turned from blue to dark or pale brown. The rhizomes are then dried in hot sun for 10 to 15 days until hardened. These dried rhizomes are then packed for marketing.
Chemical constituents
The research on the volatile rhizome oil of Curcuma caesia resulted in the identification of 30 components, representing 97% of the oil, with camphor (28%), ar-turmerone (12%), (Z)-ocimene (8%), ar-curcumene (7%), 1,8-cineole (5%), elemene (5%), borneol (4%), bornyl acetate (3%) and curcumene (3%) as the major constituents. Other research demonstrated diphenylalkanoids, allylbenzene derivatives, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, and alkaloids as major constituents.
The public source identifies “Curcuma caesia” as species of plant, Black Turmeric. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Curcuma, caesia and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q368767. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Curcuma caesia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.