Pua ʻŌlena Photograph by Heidi Fickinger
ʻō.lena
1. n. The turmeric (Curcuma domestica, also incorrectly called C. longa), a kind of ginger distributed from India into Polynesia, widely used as a spice and dye in foods, to color cloth and tapa, and medicinally for earache and lung trouble. A cluster of large leaves rises from thick, yellow underground stems, which are the useful part of the plant, either raw or cooked. (Neal 255–6.) (PPN renga.)
To learn more about Heidi click here.
