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Curcuma phaeocaulis (zedoary, dark-stemmed turmeric) is a robust herbaceous perennial in the Zingiberaceae family, native to subtropical southern China and Southeast Asia, growing 0.9-1.5 m tall from a stout, branching rhizome. The rhizome is large, conical to ovoid, with a grey-brown corky outer surface and a pale yellow to bluish-grey, camphoraceous-smelling, bitter-pungent flesh. The pseudostem, formed by overlapping leaf sheaths, bears 4-7 elongate-lanceolate to oblong leaves 30-60 cm long with a purplish-brown stripe along the midrib. The inflorescence emerges separately from the rhizome before or with the leaves, as a dense cylindrical spike of green bracts tipped with pink to rose-purple coma bracts; the small yellow tubular flowers are nested between the green bracts (POWO; Wikipedia).