Botanical Name - Curcuma longa Category - Spices/Medicinal Form - Dry Part Used - Tuberous rhizomes General Information - Turmeric (Curcuma longa L. syn C.domes tic a Val.) be lon gs to fami lyZingiberaceae, which is extensively culti-vated for its rhizomes. It is a perennialherb distributed throughout tropical andsub-tropical regions of the world includ-ing India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and SriLanka. Its rhizomes are harvested, washedand boiled in mild alkaline water to softenand dried in sun or in electric driers. It is used as colouring agent in pharmacy,confectionery, food industry, for dyeingwool, silk, cotton and in combination withother natural dyes to get different shades. Rhizomes are used ascosmeceutical, expectorant, antiseptic,anthelmintic, blood purifier, in leprosy,spleen disorders, rheumatism, bronchitis,cough and cold, insecticide, spasmolytic,hypotensive, cholera and syphilis. It is a minor ingre-dient of Ayurvedic drug for malarial fever, Acne-n-pimple cream, anti-wrinkle cream,blood purifier capsules and syrup, footcare cr eam. Phytochemicals - Curcumin, demethoxycurcumin andbisdemethoxycurcumin collectively knownas curcuminoids (3-6%) are major polyphe-nolic compounds in turmeric rhizomes. The main colouringprinciple of turmeric rhizome was isolatedin 19th century and named as Curcumin.Its chemical structure was determined byRoughley and Whiting (1973). Other phe-nolic compounds present in turmeric rhi-zome are 1-hydroxy-1, 7-bis (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-(6E)-6-heptene-3, 5-dione;1-(4- hydroxy-3, 5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-(1E, 6E)-1, 6-heptadiene-3, 4-dione; 1, 5-bis (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-penta-(1E, 4E)-1, 4-dien-3-one; 1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl-5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-penta-(1E, 4E)-1, 4-dien-3-one; 1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-7-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl)-1, 6-heptadiene-3,5-dione and 1, 7-bis (4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,4, 6-heptatrien-3-one.