Curculigo orchioides

• Botanical Name : Curculigo orchioides Gaertn
• Common Name : Kali Musli, Golden Eye Grass
• Plant Family : Hypoxidaceae

• Earlier this plant was placed in family Amaryllidaceae by Bentham and Hooker but later Hutchinson separated another two families - Agavaceae and Hypoxidaceae from it after the indepth study of the characters. Thus, as per the new trend it should be placed in family Hypoxidaceae.

• Plant Form : Herb
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park

About Curculigo orchioides Plant :

• Habit : A perennial herb with underground stout elongated root-stocks.
• Leaves :
  • Radical, sessile, linear-lanceolate, glabrescent.
  • Scape short and flattened.
• Flowers :
  • Golden-yellow in colour, in small racemes.
  • Lower females, upper males, bracts lanceolate.
  • Perianth 6-partite, stamens 6, filaments short.
  • Ovary inferior, 3-celled.
• Fruit :
  • Capsule, beaked.
  • Seeds subglobose, black, strongly rugose.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : June - September
• Significance :
  • It is known to be very useful for the treatment of impotence, limb limpness, arthritis of the lumbar and knee joints, and watery diarrhea.
  • The root is aphrodisiac, appetizer and useful in the treatment of asthma, piles, indigestion, joint pains etc.