THE GINGER AND ARROWROOT FAMILY 163 



^d fleshy (pseudo-bulbs), so as to resemble bulbs, where they 

 store up each drop of water they can get. (See also page 131) 



A^ery common type of these epiphytic herbs is Vanda Rox- 

 hurghii (Kan. Marabale), frequent on Mango and Banyan trees. 

 It has axillary racemes of sweet-scented, chequered, yellowish 

 and purple flowers and succulent, recurved leaves in Avhich water 

 is stored up. 



Dendrobium harbatiihim, another epiphyte and flowering in 

 December, has racemes of little cream-coloured flowers, and stores 

 up water and food in its grey succulent stems which are leafless 

 daring the greater part of the year. 



Vanilla planifoUa, a climber, is cultivated for its fruit, which 

 is taken wdien unripe and yields the Avell-known aromatic essence 

 "Vanilla". 



The pretty snow-drop like Orchid commonly found on the 

 trees of the Ghauts is Caelogyne flaccida. 



37. The Ginger and Arrowroot Family 



(Zingiberaceae). 



Perennial herbs with radicle leaves, which are pinnately nerved 

 from the mid-rib. Flow^ers zygomorphic. Sepals three, free or united. 

 Petals three, tubular. Stamen one with five petaloid staminodes. 

 Ovary inferior, three-celled. Fruit a capsule. 



The Ginger Plant {Zingiber officinale). 



(Kan. Quntlii. Mai. Inci. Tarn. Inji. Tel. Cuuthi. Hin. Sont.) 



1. This is a herb with a creeping Root-stock (rhizome) 

 containing a great deal of starch and an ethereal oil, wdiich gives 

 the tubers an agreeable aroma and a w^arm, bitterish taste. It is 

 cultivated, and the root-stocks are used as spices and in medicine. 



If we examine the root-stock of a Ginger plant, as it is sold 

 in the bazaar, we shall see that it contains buds or ''eyes" at its 

 ends and some scars in its middle portion (fig. 150). If it is 

 planted, the buds wall produce leaves and, perhaps, flowers, 

 whilst new^ buds will be formed at the further end of the root- 



11* 



