Zedoary (scientific name: Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Rosc), also known as zedoary rhizome, zedom, green ginger, black-hearted ginger, and turmeric, is a perennial herbaceous plant with a persistent root system. The rhizome is ovate and tuberous, with cylindrical lateral spreading branches; the root system is slender, with the ends swelling into elongated ovate tuberous forms. The leaves are oblong-elliptic or narrowly ovate, 13–24 cm long and 7–11 cm wide, with a purple halo along the midvein; the petiole is about one-third the length of the leaf blade, extending downward into a sheath, with small auricle-shaped stipules. The inflorescence is a cylindrical spike, about 14 cm long, with a peduncle and dense flowers; bracts are ovate, the apical bracts expanded, bright red, without flowers in the axils; the calyx is white with three blunt teeth; the corolla has three lobes, the upper one larger, slightly hood-shaped at the apex, the lip circular, pale yellow, shallowly three-lobed at the tip, with the central lobe slightly notched at the apex. The capsule is ovate-triangular and smooth. The seeds are oblong. With an aril. Flowering period from March to May.