Gerard's Herbal Vol. 1
This also challengeth the next place, as belonging to this tribe, according to Dioscorides: yet the root, which only is brought us, and in use, doth more on the outside resemble Ginger, but that it is yellower, and not so flat, but rounder. The inside thereof is of a saffron colour, the taste hot and bitterish; it is said to have leaves larger than those of Millet, and a leafy stalk. There is some variety of these roots, for some are longer, and others rounder, and the later are the hotter, and they are brought over oft times together with Ginger.
The Place.
It grows naturally in the East-Indies about Calicut, as also at Goa.
The Names.
This without doubt is the Cyperus Indicus of Dioscorides, Lib. 1, Cap. 4. It is now vulgarly by most writers, and in shops, called by the name Terra Merita, and Curcuma; yet some term it Crocus indicus, and we in English call it Turmeric.
The Temperature and Virtues.
A. This root is certainly hot in the third degree, and hath a quality to open obstructions, and it is used with good success in medicines against the yellow jaundice, and against the cold dispempers of the liver and spleen.
