ZIN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



Z I 



835 



revolule; middle lobe of the lip entire. Root perennial, 

 tuberous, fleshy, with long stout fibres, well known for its 

 hot gratefully aromatic flavour, and cordial qualities. The 

 whole herb is smooth, and partakes of the flavour of the 

 root; barren stems several, erect, herbaceous, wand-like, 

 leafy, about three feet high ; leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, entire, single-ribbed, spreading, with long, close, 

 sheathing, upright footstalks; flower-stalks radical, a foot 

 high, clothed with tubular sheathing bractes ; spikes solitary, 

 erect, club-shaped, enveloped in broader, shorter, less pointed, 

 crowded bractes, each accompanied by a solitary sessile 

 flower, twice its own length, of a delicale texture and short 

 duration ; the outer border of the corolla is of a very pale 

 yellow or straw colour, revolute; the upper segment rather 

 the broadest ; lip, as well as the incurved point of the filament, 

 spotted with crimson. Native of the East Indies : it is grown 

 in the West Indies. See also Amomum and Costus. 



2. Zingiber Zerumbet ; Broad-leaved Ginger. Bractes 

 ovatp, obtuse; segments of the outer border of the corolla 

 straight; middle loi)e of the lip cloven, slightly wavy ; ribs 

 and sheaths of the leaves smooth. This species is frequent 

 in our stoves, where it often flowers at the end of autumn ; and 

 many persons who grow it think themselves possessed of the 

 real Ginger. In fact, the habits of the two plants are very 

 similar, but the barren stems of this species are rather the 

 tallest, being four or five feet high, with elliptic-lanceolate 

 leaves, silky beneath when young; flower-stalks eighteen 

 inches or two feet high, thick, and firm ; spike ovate ; flowers 

 pale yellow, inodorous, only lasting a few hours. The roots 

 are said to be bitter, without the flavour and pungency of the 

 true Ginger. Native of the East Indies. 



3. Zingiber Casumunar ; Casumunar, or Hairy Ginger. 

 Bractes ovate, rather acute ; segments of the outer border of 

 the corolla straight; middle lobe of the lip cloven, dilated, 

 crisped, and crenate ; rib and sheaths of the leaves hniry. 

 The roots were anciently used as a powerful stimulant and 

 tonic, in hysteric, paralytic, and other nervous disorders, 

 possessing a warm bitterish flavour, with the smell of Ginger; 

 but they have long been ejected from the Materia Medica: 

 their shape is less elongated and compressed than that of 

 Ginger, and more annulated, tuberous, or knotty; herbage 

 most like the last species, but distinguished by the hairy 

 sheath and midrib of the leaves; flower-stalks not above six 

 or eight inches high ; spike ovate, brownish ; corolla pale 

 yellow. Native of the East Indies. This species may be 

 propagated by cuttings of its root. 



4. Zingiber Mioga ; Japanese Ginger. Bractes ovate, 

 acute ; spikes nearly sessile ; segments of the outer border of 

 the corolla erect, acute ; middle lobe of the lip concave, entire. 

 The leafy stems are one to three feet high, and with the foli- 

 age resemble that of the .preceding species ; tho flower-stalk 

 is radical, remarkably short, or scarcely any ; spike ovate, 

 with numerous large, white, pointed, striated, concave brao- 

 tes, the outer ones largest, concealing many within. The 

 flowers smell faintly like Biitterburr, and have a yellow, 

 very concave, undivided lip, and a white border. Filamen- 

 tum greenisli-white, beaked, embracing the style. Found in 

 Japan, flowering: in September. 



5. Zingiber Roseum; Hose -coloured Ginger. Bractes lan- 

 ceolate, coloured ; spike nearly sessile ; segments of the outer 

 border of the corolla revolute; middle lobe of the lip flat, 

 entire. Root creeping, cylindrical, branched, not knotty; 

 leafy stems two to three feet high ; spikes nearly sessile at 

 the root, ovate, two or three inches long. The Telingas 

 call this plant Bumacatchicay. Native of the moist valleys 

 of Hindoostan ; flowering in the rainy season. 



VOL. ii. 135. 



6. Zingiber Purpureum ; Purple Ginger. Bractes ovate, 

 coloured; segments of the outer border of the corolla erect: 

 middle lobe of ihe lip undivided. Native of the East Indies, 

 flowering in September. 



Zinnia ; a genus of trie class Syngenesia, order Polygamia- 

 Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Common Calix: ovate- 

 cylindrical, smooth, imbricated with numerous, obtuse, erect, 

 permanent scales. Corolla : compound, radiated ; florets of 

 the elevated disk several, all perfect, funnel-shaped, five-cleft, 

 internally villous ; those of the radius from five to ten, ligu- 

 late, roundish or oblong, abrupt, larger than the disk, per- 

 manent. Stamina: in the perfect florets; filamenta five, very 

 short; antheree united into a cylindrical tube. Pistil: in the 

 perfect florets; germen oblong, with two very unequal awns; 

 style thread-shaped, cloven half way down ; stigmas two, 

 erect, obtuse ; in the female florets, germen oblong, triangular, 

 without awns; style capillary, cloven halfway down ; stigmas 

 two, recurved. Pericarp: none, except the unchanged calix. 

 Seeds : in the perfect florets solitary, oblong, quadrangular, 

 compressed : down of two points, one of them awned ; in the 

 female florets solitary, pointless, crowned with the permanent 

 petal. Receptacle : chaffy, with tongue-shaped, channelled, 

 deciduous scales, the length of the calix. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Receptacle : chaffy. Seed-down : of two erect, 

 unequal awns. Calix: imbricated, somewhat ovate. Florets 



of the radius: from five to ten, permanent, undivided. - 



The species are, 



1. Zinnia Pauciflora; Yellow Zinnia. Flowers sessile; 

 leaves somewhat heart-shaped, sessile, clasping the stem. 

 Root annual ; stem erect, three or four feet high, branched, 

 angular, leafy; leaves opposite, two or three inches long; 

 flowers solitary at the ends of the branches, neatly or quite 

 sessile, with the uppermost pair of leaves close to the base 

 of the calix; disk brownish ; radius yellow. This is not so 



handsome as the following species. Native of Peru. 



This, and the next, are cultivated by sowing their seeds upon 

 a slight hot-bed in March, and when the plants are a few 

 inches high they should be pricked out on another bed, pre- 

 viously prepared to receive them, where they should remain 

 till the advance of summer, when they may be taken up and 

 planted out in the borders of the pleasure-ground, where 

 they blow and complete their seeds for the year following. 

 Their leaves and flowers produce a fine effect. 



2. Zinnia Multiflora; Common Red Zinnia. Flowers 

 stalked; leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate. This has a more 

 hairy stem, with narrower and more elongated leaves than 

 the preceding species. The rays are yellow, orange, and 

 sometimes brick-red ; the last colour is most common in 

 Europe. The flowers stand each on a hollow, deeply- 

 furrowed, terminal stalk, from one to two inches long, much 

 thicker than the stem, and gradually swelling upwards ; the 

 disk is conical and acute, 'Composed of reddish or tawny 

 florets, accompanied by the prominent dark green or blackish 

 scales of the receptacle ; the radius consists of ten or more 

 broad, elliptical, usually emarginate florets, of a deep brick- 

 red, and very smooth above, pale greenish and rough beneath, 

 reticulated with veins, and finally becoming rigid or mem- 

 branous. Native Of North America : found on the banks of 

 the Mississippi ; flowering in July and August. 



3. Zinnia Verticillata ; Whorl-leaved Zinnia. Flowers stalk- 

 ed; leaves whorled, ovate-lanceolate; radiant florets vefy 

 numerous. This is suspected to be a mere variety of the last. 

 Cultivation, it is supposed, renders the flowers so Very splen- 

 did, by their multiplied radius of a deep scarlet, and the 

 broader, and less conical or pointed disk, than in the fore- 

 going species. Native dt Mexico, 



10 C 



