Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

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Identidad taxonómica

Scientific name: Curcuma longa L.
Canonical name: The scientific name without its authorship or date, for example Zea mays instead of Zea mays L.: Curcuma longa
Authorship: The author or authors credited with publishing the scientific name. It is written after the name, sometimes with the year, for example L. (Linnaeus) in Zea mays L. An author in parentheses first published the name in another genus or rank.: L.
Common names: Turmeric, Common Turmeric, Indian-saffron
Names in other languages (66)
Ango, Curcuma, Curcuma long, Safran, Curcuma, Curry, Safran des Indes, Safran pays, Curcuma longa, Curcuma, Safran des Indes, Safran calédonien, Safran des îles, Safran de montagne, Safran du pays, Faux safran, Safran, Dohâny, Pae-dohân, Doongany, Dohâny, Geelwortel, Gelbwurzel, Kari, Kari, Curry, Kunyit, Kurkuma, Lenga, Lenga melo, Mtsindzano, Nrowà, Nyan, Nyan, Kari, Nyen, Kari, Tamotamo, Longoza, M'tsindzano massera, Turmerico, Zafferano delle indie, ata ilẹ̀ pupa, azafrán de la India, açafroeira, açafrão-da-terra, açafrão-da-Índia, cúrcuma, ebisali, gengibre-dourada, gurkmeja, harilik kollajuur, harilik kurkum, harilik kurkuma, kesol, kurkuma pravá, maustekurkuma, ostryż długi, rega, re’a tahiti, re’a tahiti, re’a, re’a, re’a taetaevao, re’a tahiti, ge’a, ge’a tahiti, ge’a amu, safran des Indes, ukon, ulgeum, zerdeçal, èna, ʻŌlena, Куркума, Куркума длинная, كركم, हरिद्रा, हलदी, हलेदो, மஞ்சள், పసుపు, කහ, ขมิ้น, ขมิ้นชัน, ᱥᱟᱥᱟᱝ, ウコン, 姜黄, 秋ウコン, 薑黃, 赤ウコン, 鬱金
Kingdom: One of the broadest ranks of biological classification. It groups organisms that share very basic features, for example plants (Plantae), animals (Animalia) or fungi (Fungi).: Plantae
Phylum: Rank below kingdom that groups organisms with a shared general body plan, for example chordates (Chordata), arthropods (Arthropoda) or vascular plants (Tracheophyta). In botany the same rank is also called division.: Tracheophyta
Class: Rank below phylum, for example mammals (Mammalia), birds (Aves), insects (Insecta) or monocot plants such as grasses and orchids (Liliopsida).: Liliopsida
Order: Rank below class that groups related families, for example grasses and their relatives (Poales) or bats (Chiroptera).: Zingiberales
Family: Rank below order that groups related genera. Family names usually end in -aceae in botany (for example Poaceae, the grass family) and in -idae in zoology (for example Felidae, the cat family).: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Rank that groups closely related species. Its name is the first word of a species' scientific name and starts with a capital letter, for example Zea in Zea mays.: Curcuma
Specific epithet: The second word of a species' scientific name. On its own it does not name the species: it always goes with the genus, for example mays in Zea mays.: longa
Taxonomic rank: The level a name occupies in the hierarchy of biological classification, such as kingdom, family, genus, species or subspecies.: species
Reference species: Curcuma longa
Taxonomic status: Whether the taxonomic catalogue the record comes from currently accepts this name for the organism, or treats it as a synonym of another accepted name or as doubtful.: accepted name

Photos and conservation status

IUCN Red List category: The extinction-risk category that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigns to a species on its Red List. EX Extinct: there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. EW Extinct in the wild: it survives only in cultivation, in captivity or as a population far outside its past range. CR Critically endangered, EN Endangered and VU Vulnerable: the three threatened categories, from an extremely high to a high risk of extinction in the wild. NT Near threatened: close to qualifying as threatened. LC Least concern: evaluated and not threatened. DD Data deficient: there is not enough information to assess its risk. NE Not evaluated: not yet assessed against the criteria. It describes the risk of the species worldwide, not its situation in a project's area.: Data deficient (DD)
Source: IUCN Red List via GBIF, queried on 2026-10-12 18:06.

Photo of Curcuma longa L. — Photo: Cristina Sininho Sa · CC BY 4.0 · View original image · Original observation

Research-grade iNaturalist observations via GBIF, CC0 or CC BY licences only, queried on 2026-10-12 18:06.

Interacciones documentadas

GloBI says it is documented somewhere in the world. Biolitica answers whether it could happen here.

A documented interaction means it was recorded somewhere in the world. It does not mean it occurs here.

Types shown: 2 of 2 is a host of × is eaten by ×

Blocks that do not sit under a navigation concept heading keep the source's own term: no navigation concept has been assigned to them yet.

is a host of 17 organisms

The authority declares no effect on this species for this term: neither that it harms it nor that it benefits it. In the source ontology symbiosis covers mutualism, commensalism and parasitism alike, so this block holds attackers and allies side by side.

Organism	Reads as	Studies	Where it was documented
Anthracnose Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Glomerellaceae	is a host of	2	no location
2 sources · 4 records Wardeh, M., Risley, C., McIntyre, M. et al. Database of host-pathogen and related species interactions, and their global distribution. Sci Data 2, 150049 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.49. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015/archive/90… Published in globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015 Record contexts (sample): no place published · no date published; no place published · no date published Peregrine, W.T.H., and Ahmad, K.B.. 1982. Brunei: A first annotated list of plant diseases and associated organisms.. Phytopathol. Pap. 27:1-87 Published in globalbioticinteractions/usda-fungus-host Context: Brunei Darussalam · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Fusarium verticillioides Nectriaceae	is a host of	1	no location
1 source · 1 record Wardeh, M., Risley, C., McIntyre, M. et al. Database of host-pathogen and related species interactions, and their global distribution. Sci Data 2, 150049 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.49. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015/archive/90… Published in globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015 Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Bacillus mycoides Bacillaceae	is a host of	1	no location
1 source · 1 record Wardeh, M., Risley, C., McIntyre, M. et al. Database of host-pathogen and related species interactions, and their global distribution. Sci Data 2, 150049 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.49. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015/archive/90… Published in globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015 Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Priestia koreensis Bacillaceae	is a host of	1	no location
1 source · 1 record Wardeh, M., Risley, C., McIntyre, M. et al. Database of host-pathogen and related species interactions, and their global distribution. Sci Data 2, 150049 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.49. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015/archive/90… Published in globalbioticinteractions/wardeh2015 Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.

Showing 4 of 17, by number of studies See more of this type

is eaten by 3 organisms

This term does declare that the organism harms this species.

Organism	Reads as	Studies	Where it was documented
Restricted Demon Notocrypta curvifascia Hesperiidae	is eaten by	1	no location
1 source · 1 record doi:10.1007/s11284-016-1365-8 Published in globalbioticinteractions/saito2016 Context: Japan · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Grass Demon Udaspes folus Hesperiidae	is eaten by	1	no location
1 source · 1 record doi:10.1007/s11284-016-1365-8 Published in globalbioticinteractions/saito2016 Context: Japan · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Metallic Cerulean Jamides alecto Lycaenidae	is eaten by	1	no location
1 source · 1 record doi:10.1007/s11284-016-1365-8 Published in globalbioticinteractions/saito2016 Context: Japan · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.

Showing 3 of 3, by number of studies

Interaction data from Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI), GloBI 0.11. Each row keeps the citation its own study published.

Interactions are published at species level: they are not resolved by variety or race.

Each block is headed by the source's own term, read from this species' end — not by a category of ours. Two similar terms are not merged.

«Documented here» means the interaction was observed in this territory. It is not evidence that the species is here, and it does not enter the niche model.

Acompañantes documentados

This agronomic reading comes from a source reserved for internal use, so it is not shown here.

Documented uses and recommendations

Uses and recommendations that a source documents for this species beside a crop, each in its own context. They are the source's statements, not traits of the species and not Biolítica's recommendations, and none of them is a relation between two species.

Among the sources you can read, none documents a use or recommendation of this species beside a crop.