Botanical atlas
East Indian Arrowroot
Curcuma angustifolia
This plant is kept in the atlas for identification and safety, not for use. Read the safety notes below before handling it, and keep it away from children, cats, and food.
Long before it ever reached a spice rack, Curcuma angustifolia was dug from the forest floor of central India each winter for the pale, silky starch hidden in its rhizomes. Village households turned that starch, known as tikhur, into a soft gruel fed to infants, invalids, and anyone whose stomach needed something gentle to hold onto. In Ayurvedic household practice it was prized as a cooling, easily digested food during fevers and hot weather, and to this day it appears in temple offerings during Krishna Janmashtami, stirred into a sweet milk pudding believed to be fit for a newborn god. It is a humble plant with a quiet, steady reputation, the kind of remedy passed from grandmother to grandmother rather than written in any pharmacopeia.
Safety.
No significant toxicity is documented; its starchy rhizome has long been used safely as a food, even for infants and convalescents.
Our sister app HerbLens identifies east indian arrowroot from a photo and keeps its full botanical portrait: growing guide, harvest notes, and look-alike warnings.
View on HerbLensHerbSense shares traditional herbal knowledge for education, not diagnosis or treatment. Herbs can interact with medicines and conditions. Speak with your doctor before acting on anything here, and seek care promptly for anything severe, sudden, or worsening.