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Curcuma australasica; photograph (c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-01-21

Curcuma australasica Hook.f.

Australian Wild Turmeric; Cape York Lily

Zingiberaceae · Maluku, New Guinea +2 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY)Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY)Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY)Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY)Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY)Curcuma australasica, photograph (c) Ruth Palsson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) 36 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.4°C
Record low 12.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,710mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–44DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Curcuma australasica, the native turmeric, wild turmeric, or Cape York lily, is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the Zingiberaceae or ginger family.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Curcuma australasica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Curcuma

Curcuma is a genus of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam tulip. They are native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea and northern Australia. Some species are reportedly naturalized in other warm parts of the world such as tropical Africa, Central America, Florida, and various islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Curcuma", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Curcuma in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,325 mm of 1,649 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.3 °C against a yearly mean of 26.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

1,649 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,325 mm of it December to March. Wettest month February at 384 mm, driest months (2 at 4 mm); 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,398 mm to 2,015 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,710 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,649 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.4 °C, the absolute minimum 12.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 17.1 °C to 23.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.3 °C in October and November (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -35 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Curcuma in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Curcuma australasica through the yearWarmest months October and November, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 20.2 °C; 1,649 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°40.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER12.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 31–44RH 56–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 187 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 28–3230 / 28–3130 / 28–3230 / 27–3330 / 26–3229 / 25–3128 / 24–3129 / 25–3331 / 25–3532 / 26–3632 / 27–3531 / 28–33
Night °C25 / 24–2625 / 23–2624 / 23–2624 / 22–2623 / 20–2521 / 18–2520 / 17–2420 / 18–2422 / 20–2523 / 22–2525 / 23–2625 / 24–26
Rain mm379 / 318–434384 / 300–459314 / 268–393132 / 84–24829 / 13–935 / 1–474 / 2–324 / 1–248 / 4–2028 / 16–66114 / 67–178248 / 181–334
DLI34 / 32–3733 / 31–3534 / 32–3634 / 32–3633 / 29–3531 / 27–3433 / 28–3537 / 32–3941 / 38–4344 / 42–4543 / 42–4438 / 35–41
RH %66 / 64–6867 / 65–6965 / 63–6762 / 56–6658 / 52–6556 / 50–6456 / 48–6356 / 49–6358 / 51–6359 / 53–6461 / 57–6564 / 61–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 187 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (331 records in those cells; 8 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2047:6318 (-12.375, 135.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 187 distinct grid cells holding 331 of the 339 in-range records (8 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2047:6318 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -12.50_135.625, lapse-corrected -35 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 19 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMaluku, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland · introduced: Caroline Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-11.67, 130.629 · in the densest population, 212 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 403 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 331 of them in the land cells it reads, of 339 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 329 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7 km away. 18 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 64 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 403 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Curcuma australasica, photograph 1did not loadCurcuma australasica, photograph 2did not loadCurcuma australasica, photograph 3did not loadCurcuma australasica, photograph 4did not loadCurcuma australasica, photograph 5did not loadCurcuma australasica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Roland Muench, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Ruth Palsson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Syzygium forte Syzygium forte Flaky-barked satinash Photo: CC BY, Jane C FrostLygodium flexuosum Lygodium flexuosum Maidenhair-creeper Photo: CC BY, Nina KerrCorypha utan Corypha utan Buri palm Photo: CC BY, John TasirinBuchanania arborescens Buchanania arborescens Sparrow’s Mango Photo: CC BY, Roland MuenchMaranthes corymbosa Maranthes corymbosa Chrysobalanaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioSyzygium suborbiculare Syzygium suborbiculare Red Bush Apple Photo: CC BY, Roland Muench

Other Curcuma 35 in the reference

Curcuma aeruginosa Curcuma aeruginosa Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt StüberCurcuma alismatifolia Curcuma alismatifolia Siam Tulip Photo: CC BY, Oleg KosterinCurcuma amada Curcuma amada Mango ginger Photo: Public domain, vicharamCurcuma aromatica Curcuma aromatica Wild turmeric Photo: CC BY, harrier Curcuma attenuata Zingiberaceae Curcuma aurantiaca Zingiberaceae Curcuma caesia Curcuma caesia Black Tumeric Photo: CC BY, Ashwin A Curcuma codonantha Zingiberaceae Curcuma colorata Zingiberaceae Curcuma elata Zingiberaceae Curcuma gracillima Curcuma gracillima Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, David J. Stang Curcuma harmandii Zingiberaceae all 36 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Zingiberaceae
Described by
Hook.f.
Native to
Maluku, New Guinea, Northern Territory +1
Wild records
403 in range · 329 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 10 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -12.50_135.625, lapse-corrected -35 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 29 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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