CAT-00072
Native turmeric
Curcuma australasica
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Curcuma
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in shady rainforest margins, often on rocky terrain.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Herb / spice
- Latin name
- Curcuma australasica
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Native turmeric
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Curcuma%20australasica | https://tuckerbush.com.au/native-turmeric-curcuma-australasica/ Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00072
- Mature width
- 0.5-1m
- Native range
- Occurs in tropical N.T. and Qld, including the islands of Torres Strait; also in New Guinea.
- Plant family
- Zingiberaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Nursery-listed / regional edible
- Mature height
- 0.5-1.5m
- Native states
- NT, QLD
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use source; preparation detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- After flowers; rhizome harvest is separate.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Rhizomes
- Flowering season
- November-March in tropical/subtropical nursery guidance.
- Brief description
- Seasonally dormant ginger with showy coloured flower bracts.
- Drought tolerance
- Low during active growth; dormant rhizomes tolerate seasonal drying.
- Preparation notes
- Use the correctly identified rhizome; cooking/roasting is documented. Flower edibility is not confirmed.
- Flower description
- White to yellow flowers carried among showy pink-red bracts; the coloured bracts are not petals.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Promising in a warm sheltered bed; water in growth and protect dormant rhizomes from frost.
- Botanical description
- Rhizome not elongating, yellow within. Leaves tufted; lamina ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded at base, glabrous, to 45 cm long and 19 cm wide; petiole to 15 cm long. Inflorescence terminal, cylindrical, to 15 cm long, 3 cm wide; fertile bracts oblong, acute, recurved at tips, 1.5–2.5 cm long, green, each subtending a cincinnus of up to 5 flowers; sterile bracts longer, flushed rose. Flowers pale yellow, exserted from bracts; dorsal lobe of corolla broadly concave, 1.5–2 cm long. Lateral staminodes 1 cm long, not folded behind stamen. Labellum c. 1.5 cm long, ± orbicular, emarginate. Anther spurred at base.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Curcuma%20australasica Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Capsules; rhizomes are the documented food part, not the fruit.
- Flora of Australia citation
- R.M. Smith. Curcuma australasica. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Curcuma%20australasica (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026