122 SCITAMINE^E 



Britain, but it is occasionally used in domestic practice in the form of a tea, 

 to promote eruption in measles, scarlet fever, and other exanthematous 

 diseases. Dose: 5 to 30 gr. (0.3 to 2 Gm.). Chiefly used for coloring prepara- 

 tions. 

 Tinctura Croci (10 per cent.). (U.S. P. 1890),. . . . Dose: I to 2 dr. (4 to 8 mils). 



SCITAMINE^). Banana Family 



A tropical order, many species of which have a pungent principle in their 

 rhizome or root; other species yield an abundance of starch and coloring matter. 



Synopsis of Drugs from the Scitaminece 



A. Rhizomes. B. Fruit. 



ZINGIBER, 78. CARDAMOMUM, 82. 



*Galanga, 79 C. Seeds. 

 *Zedoaria, 80. Granum Paradisi, 83. 



Curcuma, 81. 



78. ZINGIBER. GINGER 

 GINGER 



The dried rhizome of Zin'giber officina'le Roscoe (Pam. Zingiberaceae, U.S.P. 1900), 



deprived of periderm. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Root-stock biennial, creeping; stem 3 to 4 feet high; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, smooth. Spikes radical, each flower bracteate; lip 

 3-lobed; stamens 3, 2 abortive; capsule 3-celled, 3-valved. 



HABITAT. Africa, Hindustan; cultivated in the West Indies and tropics. 



DESCRIPTION or DRUG. A flattened rhizome, from 25 to 100 mm. (i to 

 4 in.) long, with large club-shaped lobes on one side ; deprived of 

 the corky layer by scraping, and bleached, leaving a pale buff- 

 colored, striate surface, sometimes covered with a white powder of 

 calcium carbonate from being steeped in milk of lime; fracture 

 mealy and rather fibrous, showing a whitish interior dotted with 

 numerous small, orange-colored oil and resin-cells. Transverse sec- 

 tions show a parenchymatous meditullium containing scattered resin- 

 cells and numerous fibrovascular bundles, which latter are less abun- 

 dant outside of the nuclear sheath. The central cylinder is quite 

 broad as compared with the cortical layer; aromatic and spicy; 

 pungent. 



VARIETIES. The above-described root, Jamaica ginger or white ginger, 

 (deprived of corky layer), is the finest variety, yielding 5 per cent, 

 oleoresin. African ginger is shorter, with broadly linear or oblong 

 lobes, and is not deprived of its light brown, corky layer. Chinese 

 ginger is also a coated rhizome, but has short stumpy lobes. East 

 India ginger is scraped on the flat side, leaving the cork remaining on 



