What Is Turmeric? Six Major Differences Between This Ginger Family Plant and Ginger
Turmeric is also called yujin, Baodingxiang, haoming, huangjiang, huangsi, etc. It is a plant of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family. Its tuberous roots are very thick and look similar to ginger, so some people think it is ginger, but it actually is not. So, what is turmeric? What is the difference between it and ginger?
1. What is turmeric?
1. Turmeric is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family, with a plant height of 1-1.5 m. Its rhizome is elliptical or cylindrical and orange-yellow in color; its leaves are oblong or elliptical and green; its flowering period is in August, its bracts are ovate or oblong and pale green, its calyx is white, and its corolla is pale yellow; its roots are thick, with the ends swelling into tuberous roots.
2. Turmeric is a widely distributed plant, produced in Taiwan, China, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Tibet, Sichuan, Guizhou and other provinces and regions, and widely cultivated in East Asia and Southeast Asia; it prefers a warm and humid environment with plenty of sunlight and abundant rainfall, and fears severe cold and frost as well as drought and waterlogging. It is generally dug up in winter when the stems and leaves wither.
3. Turmeric is a traditional Chinese medicine. The medicinal part is its dried rhizome, which is irregularly ovate, cylindrical or spindle-shaped and often curved; the surface is dark yellow, rough, with wrinkled textures and obvious rings; the cross-section is brownish yellow to golden yellow, horny, with a waxy luster; after processing into medicinal material, it becomes irregular or subrounded thick slices.
4. Turmeric can be decocted in water for internal use, or made into pills or powders, or ground into powder for external application; it has the effects of promoting the movement of qi and breaking blood stasis, dredging meridians and relieving pain, and is mainly used for stabbing pain in the chest and hypochondrium, chest impediment and heart pain, impediment pain of the shoulders and arms, rheumatic pain of the shoulders and arms, postpartum abdominal pain due to retained blood stasis, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, abdominal masses, and traumatic injuries; note that it should be used with caution by those with blood deficiency and no qi stagnation and blood stasis, and is contraindicated for pregnant women.
2. What are the differences between turmeric and ginger?
Difference 1, different varieties: turmeric is the thick tuberous root of a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family; while ginger is the fresh rhizome of a perennial rooting herbaceous plant of the genus Zingiber in the ginger family.
Difference 2, different leaves: turmeric leaves are 30-45 (90) cm long and 15-18 cm wide, oblong or elliptical; while ginger leaves are 15-30 cm long and about 2 cm wide, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate.
Difference 3, different flowers: turmeric blooms in August, with pale green bracts, pale yellow corolla, and a pale yellow lip with a deep yellow center; while ginger blooms from June to August, with pale green bracts, yellow corolla, and a pale purple lip with yellow-white spots.
Difference 4, different tuberous roots: turmeric tuberous roots do not have many side branches; they are like little fingers, elongated, and dark yellow in color; while ginger tuberous roots have many side branches and are pale yellow to brownish yellow.
Difference 5, different uses: turmeric is mainly used as medicine, and the medicinal part is its dried rhizome; while ginger is known for being excellent both as medicine and food, and the edible part is its fresh rhizome, which can be used as a seasoning and also as medicine.
Difference 6, different effects: turmeric is warm in nature and pungent and bitter in taste, with the effects of breaking blood and moving qi, and relieving menstrual pain and pain, and is mainly used for stabbing pain in the chest and hypochondrium, chest impediment and heart pain, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, rheumatic pain of the shoulders and arms, and swelling and pain from falls; while ginger is slightly warm in nature and pungent in taste, with the effects of releasing the exterior and dispersing cold, warming the middle and stopping vomiting, warming the lungs and stopping cough, and detoxifying, and is mainly used for wind-cold common cold, cold syndrome of the spleen and stomach, stomach cold vomiting, lung cold cough, and neutralizing fish and crab toxins.
Summary: Turmeric is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family, mainly used as medicine, and the medicinal part is its dried rhizome, which is elliptical or cylindrical and orange-yellow. It differs from ginger by only one character, and their appearances are also similar. Here are six ways to distinguish them from each other.