The plant is known by many different names, such as:[3] Tree turmeric, False calumba, Colombo weed, Weni wel (වෙනිවැල්), Weniwelgeta (වෙනිවැල්ගැට),Baanvalgata (බාන්වැල්ගැට) (in Sinhala), Dāru Haridrā or Kāleyaka (दारुहरिद्रा, कालेयकः in Sanskrit), Mara Manjal (in Tamil and Malayalam),[4] Haem herb (in Thai),[5] Voer Romiet (in Khmer),[6] etc.

It can only thrive in a tropical climate and prefers mixed and dense evergreen forest, with fertile soil and high moisture.

It is unclear if all these medicinal uses of C. fenestratum are backed up by science, but laboratory tests have shown that the plant has potent bioactive properties.

[8] Because of the growing populations and industrialization of Asia, the demand for Coscinium fenestratum has increased manifold in the last decades, decimating the natural distribution of the plant dramatically.

[citation needed] Some of these habitats are designated as protected areas or national parks, but that has not safeguarded the plant from opportunistic gathering.

[1] In some areas, like Cambodia and Laos for instance, C. fenestratum is harvested on a large scale and subsequently processed with toxic acids, posing a pollution threat to the local eco-systems.