132 PLANT ORGANS OR PARTS OF PLANTS. 



The branches are more or less finger-shaped, flattened, 

 and generally collected along one side. 



The odor is pungent, the fracture short, sharp, and 

 uneven, showing yellowish to grayish-yellow interior 

 (yellowish fibro-vascular bundles on fracture). There 

 is considerable variation in the external appearance, 

 different packers in different countries shipping it in 

 their own peculiar fashion. 



The main types that come into our markets are: 

 Jamaican, coated and uncoated, only the latter recog- 

 nized by Pharmacopoeia ; African ; East Indian ; Chinese. 



The Jamaica ginger is usually selected more carefully 

 than the other types. It is first peeled and scraped and 

 then dried rapidly in the sun. This gives it a whitish 

 appearance which is a mark of good quality. The rhi- 

 zome is generally more slender than in other types of 

 ginger and rounder; the lobes are more pointed. 



East India ginger is generally peeled on the broad face 

 only. Sometimes it is peeled, and then as it dries, if of a 

 darker color than the Jamaica, it is dipped so as to simu- 

 late it, or is bleached with chlorinated lime, calcium 

 sulphate, sulphur, or chloroform. 



African and Chinese ginger are both generally coated. 

 Sometimes they are half peeled. The Chinese ginger has 

 short and stumpy stems. 



Histology. — Examined under the low power a cross- 

 section shows, if unpeeled, an external layer of brown, 

 corky epidermal cells, within which is found a small 

 grayish parenchymatic cortex, separated by means 

 of an endodermis from a central cylinder of parenchy- 

 matic tissue more or less filled with fibro-vascular bundles 

 and secretory organs. The cortex also contains a number 

 of fibro-vascular bundles. The parenchymatic tissues are 

 filled with starch. A yellowish color of the parenchyma 

 is considered a sign of good quality. The fibro-vascular 

 bundles appear as dark brown points in the field. Under 



