192 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES GHERKINS 



out into large sheets like thick felt, and used for warm under- 

 clothing, and when mixed with saltpetre forms the substance 

 known as German Tinder. 



Gherkins. {See Cucumber.) 



Gilliflower. {See Clove.) 



Ginger {Zingiber officinale), a perennial herb of the family 

 Zingiberaceffi. It is universally cultivated throughout the 

 tropics, and it is impossible to state its native country, but prob- 

 ably it is India. Ginger of commerce is the fleshy rhizome or 

 underground stem, which is lobed or fingered in a peculiar 

 manner, from which proceed reed-like stems clothed with grass- 

 like foliage. Many varieties are in cultivation. It is imported 

 into this country in its dried and bleached state from l^oth the 

 East and West Indies, Africa, and China, but Jamaica Ginger is 

 considered the best. It is largely used as a condiment, and in 

 its green state makes an excellent preserve. In 1880 the 

 importation from all countries amounted to 49,995 cwts. 



Gingerbread, or Doum Palm of Egypt {Eyphmne thehaica), 

 native of Upper Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and adjacent coun- 

 tries. Its stem is a foot or more in diameter, and by age 

 becomes branched, attaining the height of 20 or more feet, each 

 branch bearing a crown of fan leaves. Its fruits are borne in 

 large pendulous bunches, bearing one or two hundred each. 

 Each fruit is about the size of an apple, and is covered with a 

 fibrous pulp, which has the flavour of Gingerbread, and forms 

 part of the food of the lower classes of Upper Egypt. 



Gingerbread Plum {Farinarium macrophylhwi), a small 

 tree of the Cocoa Plum family (Chrysobalanaccije), native of 

 Western tropical Africa. Its leaves are oblong and rigid, 

 white on the under side, and strongly veined. The fruit is the 

 size of a magnum bonum plum of an oblong form. Another 

 species, P. excehum, is one of the largest trees on the Sierra 

 Leone Mountains. When in flower its terminal bunches of 

 white blossom render it a peculiar ornament to the forest. The 

 fruit is similar to the last, and on account of the colour of its 

 skin is called the Grey Plum. It is produced in great abun- 



