Curcuma kakchingense (Zingiberaceae), a new species from northeast India

Abstract

Curcuma kakchingense Bidyaleima, Kishor & Sharma, a new species of Curcuma subg. Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) from Manipur, northeast India is described and illustrated. The species has close resemblance to C. phrayawan and C. longa but is distinguished by having lemon‐yellow coloured rhizomes with a very bitter taste, glabrous dark reddish‐brown bladeless sheaths, reddish‐brown petiole fading towards the edges, densely pubescent coma and upper fertile bracts on both surfaces with mucronate tip, broadly ovate bracteole, elongated and revolute apex of the middle lobe of the labellum and stigma protruding through the anther lobes. The chromosome number is established as 2n = 3x = 63.