164 



MONOCOTYLEDONS 



Fig. 150. — Rhizome of Ginger {Zingiber 

 officinale), i of natural size. 



stock. This underground stem thus creeps along under the soil 

 producing fresh buds every year, slowly moving away from the 



spot where the fanner plant 

 grew and thus always seeking 

 fresh, unused soil. The old 

 portion marked with the scars 

 of withered plants decays, and 

 as the side-buds similarly creep 

 along in opposite directions, in- 

 dependent plants are produced 

 eventually. The branching of 

 the root-stock is, therefore, a 

 means of vegetative propagation, 

 and this is by no means an un- 

 important one as the Ginger plant rarely flowers to produce seed. 



2. Leaves. — The Ginger plant grows during the monsoon and 

 so does not require a protective coat of hairs on its stem and 

 leaves (cf. Habenaria, page 159), or other means of checking the 

 process of evaporation, such as a limited surface of the leaf- 

 blades. It can, therefore, develop large and long leaves. The 

 leaves, like all the other parts of the plant, contain the volatile 

 oil, which we have noticed in the root-stock, that gives them a fine 

 aroma when bruised. 



3. The Flowers appear not on the leafy stem, but are pro- 

 duced on separate scapes that rise from the root-stock, a little 

 removed from the leafy stem. They form a spike at the top of 

 the scape, being supported and protected by imbricated, concave 

 bracts. 



The perianth of the flower is tubular and has a double bor- 

 der of three lobes each. Within the perianth there are six "leaves" 

 in two sets, belonging to the staminal series of which, however, only 

 one bears an anther. Of the rest two are reduced to minute teeth, 

 nestling around the base of the style, whereas one is enlarged to 

 a violet, petal-like lip, and two are found as short teeth or lobes 

 at each side of the lip. The anther-bearing stamen is drawn 

 out into a purple sheath clasping the upper part of the style, 

 whose funnel-shaped stigma overtops all parts of the flower. The 



