732 ORD. XLV. Scitaminee. AMOMUM ZINGIBER. 
scapus, or fower-stem, rises about a foot high, it is erect, round, 
alternately sheathed like the stalks, without leaves, and terminates 
in an oval, obtuse, bracteal, imbricated spike; the corolla, or 
flowers, appear between the bracteal scales of the spike, two or 
three at a time; they are of a dingy yellow colour, monopetalous, 
tubular, and cut into three unequal, acute, segments, which have 
their points curled backwards; the nectary occupies the faux or 
mouth of the tube of the corolla, and has a bilabiated appearance ; 
the lip is obtusely trifid, of a reddish purple colour, and marked 
with many yellowish dots: but what seems like the upper lip is the 
stamen, or filament, which is convex outwardly, concave within, 
and gradually tapers from its base to its apex, where it is coloured 
like the nectary. The anthere are two, oblong, whitish, and 
lodged together in the cavity of the stamen: the style is long 
and filiform: the stigma obtuse and villous: the capsule is three- 
celled, and contains many seeds. 
The Ginger plant is a native of the East Indies,* and is said to 
grow in the greatest perfection on the coast of Malabar and 
Bengal; but it is now plentifully cultivated in the warmer parts 
of America,f and in the West-India islands, from whence chiefly 
it is imported into Europe. In 1731, it was first introduced into 
@ The following observation, made by Rumphius, seems however to deserve 
some notice: Quondam omne Zingiber petebatur ex illa Africe parte, que mari 
rubro adjacet tam intra quam extra illud, tum Arabia Trogloditica dicta, cujus 
incole hodie ab Arabibus vocantur Zingi seu Zangi h. ec. nigri seu adusti 
AEthiopes, unde & nomen Zingiber seu Zingibel ortum duxit, ac si discerctur, | 
dadices ex Ethiopia, atque hinc jam innotuit antiquis etiam scriptoribus, uti 
Dioscorid, tib. 2. cap, 154. Galeno. lib. 6. med. simp. ubi dicit Zingiber deferri 
ex Barbaria, per quam vocem sera oe est orientalis Africe plaga. vide Herb. ' 
h 
Amboin. yol. vy. p. 157. 
{ India Orientali per Hispanos ac presertim per Franciscum de Mendosa, 
filium imperatoris Authonii de Mendosa cum aliis aromaticis herbis in novam 
Hispaniam deductum est, teste Monardo simp. Medic. cap. 18. Rumphius, 1. c.— 
Upon the death of Mendosa, these plants were neglected, and all lost but the 
Ginger. Ginger is said by some to grow wild in America, but — says, 
“ Sylvestrem in America non vidi.” 
