Curcuma singularis Gagnep.

 Curcuma singularis Gagnep., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54: 407 (1907).

Curcuma singularis Gagnep. Photos by Tomoki Sando

its native range is Indo-China.

Vietnamese name: 

Cây khỏe, Sâm đá

Latin Name: 

Curcuma singularis Gagnep.

Synonym Name: 

No synonyms are recorded for this name.

Family: 

Zingiberaceae

Description: 

Small herb, 30-50 tall. Rhizome horizontal, cylinder, aromatic; fibrous roots; usually root tips swollen form ovate or fusiform, externally brown, internally whitish, buried deeply in the ground. Leaves 3-6, lamina 10-22 × 5-7(-9) cm, ovate or oval, apex acuminate, base rounded or cuneiform, adaxially green, glabrous, abaxially lighter green, pubescent; petiole 5-9 cm long, canaliculate; ligule light brown when young, after turn into light-yellow color, thin, 1-1,5 mm long, tip concave divide into two lobes, ciliated at the top; leaf sheaths light brow- purple when young. Inflorescence lateral. Bracts 5-8, green, triangular ovate, 3-4 cm long, 2,5-3 cm wide, apex obtus. Cincinni with 4 flowers. Bracteoles very small. Flowers 7-8,5 cm long, exerted from bracts; tubular calyx, 2- 2,5 cm long, thin, white, pubescent externally, short unilateral incision, splitted into 3-lobes form equal triangles towards apex. Part lower of corolla form tubular, white, 4-4,5 cm long, slightly flared towards the apex, upper divided into three lobes, 2,2-2,6 × 1,5-2 cm, narrow ovate, concave, white, dorsal corolla with mucronate; labellum large obovate, 2,2-2,5 × 1,8-2,1 cm, apex emarginate, incised 1-1,5 mm long, white, with band yellow colour along midrib; lateral staminodes 2, unequally narrow obovate, 2,5-2,8 × 1,2-1,5 long, white, with band yellow along midrib, to 1/2 length staminodes; filament 4-5 mm long, 3-4 mm wide at base, 1,5-2 mm wide toward upper, white; anther 2 lobes, 9-11 mm long, base of each lobe prolonging into flat spur, equal, 3-4 mm long, spur creating blunt angle with anther. Style filiform, 4,5-5,5 cm long, white; stigma funnel-shaped; stylodes two, awl form, slender, 3-4 mm long; ovary 4-5 × 3-4 mm, oval, densely puberulent, white. Fruit globular trilocular capsule, ivory white, 10-11 mm in diameter; seeds ovate, slightly anguled, 3-4 mm long, 2-2,5 mm wide, white; aril hyaline white, splitting into lobes.

Flowering: 

The inflorescences appear just before the leaves, the flowers open from March to May; fruits from June to July, not too much plants with fruit.

Chemical: 

The chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma singularis by steam distillation was analyzed by GC-MS. A total number of 68 constituents were detected, among which 47 chemical compounds (accounting for 62.96% of the oil) have been identified.The main compounds are: camphor (23.63%), isoborneol (2.24%), endo-borneol (3.06%), terpinen-4-ol (3.51%), copaene (2.56%), acoradiene (2.89%) and turmerol (2.65%). Analysis results of chemical also showed that the chemical composition of Curcuma singularis contain eight isolated compounds, with two new diarylheptanoid compounds (Curcusin A and Curcusin B) showing potent inhibiting effects against sEH. In medicine, sEH inhibitors are one significant subjects in cardiovascular disease research.

Distribution: 

Vietnam (Gia Lai: Sa Thay, KBang). Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.

Ecological: 

Grows in secondary forests, forest edges, on fields in the mountains, at an altitude of 400-1000m.

Uses: 

Locals used rhizomes of Curcuma singularisto improve their health by drinking beverage made from boiling it in water, or infuse its swollen part of the root tip in alcohol. People also use its extracted liquid made by from soaking the plants in alcohol to massage the bruises for relief and improved healing.

Typus:

Loc. class.: Laos (Pissay). Holotype: Thorel 3194 (P)

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org

- Nguyen Quoc Binh, Hoang Anh Tuan, Nguyen Van Dat, Tran Thi Viet Thanh, Nguyen Phuong Hanh, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Nguyen Trung Thanh, new record Species for Flora of Vietnam - Curcuma singularis Gagnep. (Zingiberaceae); VNU Journal of Science: Natural Sciences and Technology, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2017) 25-29