Curcuma longa L. (Family: Zingiberaceae) is a perennial herb widely cultivated in tropical regions of
Asia. Its rhizomes, called dturmericT, are extensively used for imparting colour and flavour to food. The
plant is indigenous to the South and Southeast Asian region. It reached China some what before the 7th
century A.D., and then it spread throughout the region and even across the Pacific by the Polynesians to
as far as Hawaii and the Easter Islands