258 Scitaminece. {^Zingiber. 



Rootstock stout, annulate, with simple and tuberiferous 

 root-fibres, tubers i-i^ in. long, oblong or ellipsoid, brown ; 

 leafing stem 3-6 ft. or more, rather slender ; I. 5-S by 1-2 in., 

 subsessilc, very variable in form, narrowly lanceolate to oblong- 

 or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent 

 beneath, mouth of sheath entire and margins pubescent, ligule 

 very short, truncate, ciliate ; fig. stem 3-9 in., erect, loosely 

 sheathed with obtuse scales i in. long ; spike 2-3 in., fusiform 

 or subcylindric, about i in. diam.; bracts ovate-oblong or 

 orbicular, obtuse or subacute, green, at length reddish, closely 

 appressedly imbricate : cal.-tube loose, as long as the cor.- 

 tube, glabrous ; cor.-tube i in. long, slender, glabrous, de- 

 curved, segm. lanceolate, acuminate, dorsal largest ; lip 

 shorter than the cor.-segm., 3-lobed, side lobes spreading, 

 linear, obtuse, median broadest, cuneate-oblong, truncate, with 

 small obtuse basal auricles ; anth. glabrous ; ov. hairy, stigma 

 clavate ; fr. subquadrate, compressed, I in. diam., thinly 

 coriaceous, retuse at base and top, red ; seeds few, /. in. long, 

 turgidly ovoid, testa black, hardly shining, hilum swollen, aril 

 white. 



Damp shady places in forests of the moist region to 4000 ft.; common. 

 FI. Sept., Oct.; cream-coloured. 



Endemic. 



Very similar in habit to the common ging^er, Z. officinale^ which is 

 only known in cultivation, but distinguished, as pointed out by Thwaites, 

 by the entire mouth of the 1. sheaths, to which may be added the colour 

 of the lip, which in the ginger is dark purple. According to Roxburgh, 

 Z. offici7tale very rarely flowers in India, and such were unknown to him. 



3. Z. Cassumunar,* Roxb. in Asiat. Res. .\i. 347 (1810). 



Thw. Enum. 315. C. P. 3727. 



P'l. B. Ind. vi. 248. Rot. Mag. 1426. 



Rootstock stout, tuberous, over i in. diam., \iith many 

 vermiform roots; leafing stem 2-2J, ft., stout, clothed with 

 sheaths; 1. numerous, spreading, 9-12 by 2^, 3 in., linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, glabrous and channelled above, densely 

 jiubescent beneath, base slightly rounded, margins narrowly 

 membranous, sheath pubescent, auricled at top. ligule very 

 short, pubescent ; flg. stem 4 in., stout, with few imbricate 

 bracts ; spike 6 in. and more, narrow, cylindrical, acute ; 

 bracts closely imbricate, broadly oval, thick, green, pubescent, 

 margin narrowly membranous ; cal.-tube H in. long, mem- 

 branous, truncate, glabrous, cleft half way down ; cor.-tube 

 longer, i in. long, slender, glabrous, segm. lanceolate-acumi- 

 nate, lateral about as long as the tube, deflexed, dorsal much 



* Thought by Ro.xburgh to be the source of the root so called in the 

 drug shops of InJia. 



