The crop is originated in the Terai tract of Uttar Pradesh in the foothills of the Himalayas in India. It is also almost found throughout India and the Andaman Islands up to an altitude of 1500 m. It was used as a flavoring and as a leaf vegetable by the early inhabitants, Dravidians.
Curry leaf was introduced to Southern Indian, when the Dravidians moved southward around 1000 BC after the arrival of Aryans from Persia. The fifteenth century Kannada poet, Bommarasa of Terakanambi, mentions curry leaves as one of the ingredients in dishes served at a royal feast.
It is an ancient spice used in Vedic food preparation.
The curry leaf’s botanical name honors two distinguished pupils of the famous Swedish naturalist and physician, Carolus Linnaeus. Murraya is inspired by the Swedish botanist Johann Andreas Murray (1740-1741) while koenigiiis is memory of the Polish botanist, Johann Gerhard Konig (1728-1785).
Wild forms with less pungent leaves are seen along the plains and hills of Himalayas extending from Kumaon to Sikkim, in Bengal, Assam, Deccan plateau and in Western Ghats.
History of curry leave
