Description

Curculigo orchioides is a small herbaceous plant with an elongated tuberous rootstock measuring 5 – 25 cm. The leaves are simple and 15 - 45 cm long depending upon the growth pattern under different climatic conditions. The leaves originate from the short stem (rhizome) with sheathing leaf base and often produce adventitious buds and develop into a small plant at the tip when in contact with soil. Flowers are light – dense yellow in color, bisexual, sessile, regular and about 1.2 cm long. Perianth six lobed, lobes yellow (0.6 – 1 long and 0.2 - 0.3 cm width), stamens 6, filaments 2 mm, filiform, anthers 2 mm, ovary 3 celled, oblong to 4 mm. Ovules are numerous per cell, style 2 mm, stigma 3, lobes elongate, fruit oblong measuring 1.5 – 2 cm long 8 mm broad. Seeds 8, globose 1 – 2 mm, black, beaked and deeply grooved in wavy lines. Citation : http://hdl.handle.net/10603/55388

Ecology

C. orchioides was originated in the shady forests of Asia. This small herb is native to Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka (Pandey et al., 1983). The world map showing the distribution of C. orchioides was shown in Figure 2. C. orchioides is distributed in the subtropical Himalayas from Kumaon eastwards ascending to 1800 m, the Khasia hills, Bengal, Assam, Konkan, Kanara, the Western Peninsula and Tamil Nadu extending South and Cape Comerin (Agharkar, 1953; Atal and Kapur, 1982; Gupta et al., 1994; Joy et al., 1998). C. orchioides is generally available in the forest for harvest in the month from August – November. It’s flowering and fruiting starts from April - September. In India flowering and fruiting occur mostly from October to January and rarely throughout the year in certain places in India.

Importance

C. orchioides is considered as a major ingredient in several formulations of herbal medicines in the Ayurveda and Unani system of medicine in India.

Threat

Citation