ORDER, SCITA MINE^E, OR LINGER TRIBE. 



523 



The style is long and 



proach that of the Orchideae in character, 

 thread-like, dilated 

 into an expanded 

 stigma at the top. 

 The fruit is gene- 

 rally a three-celled 

 capsule. 



699. These plants 

 are generally objects 

 of great beauty, 

 either on account of 

 the high degree of 

 development of the 

 coloured parts of the 

 flower itself, or be- 

 cause of the rich and 

 glowing hues of the 

 bracts. They are, 

 however, princi- 

 pally valued on ac- 

 count of the aro- 

 matic and stimu- 

 lating properties, FlG - H-GIN<R PLANT. 

 which the rhizoma of most species possesses. This is best known 

 in the common Ginger, which is produced from a plant originally 

 found in the south-east of Asia and the adjoining islands, but 

 early transplanted to America and the West Indies, where it has 

 been cultivated with great success, the Jamaica Ginger being 

 esteemed much superior in quality to the East Indian. The dry 

 Ginger of commerce is distinguished into white and black ; but 

 the difference of colour wholly depends upon the mode of prepa- 

 ration. For both these kinds, the rhizoma is allowed to remain, 

 until the annual stalks are withered: the best and soundest roots 

 being selected for white ginger, they are scraped clean and dried 

 carefully in the sun; but the others are merely scalded and then 

 dried. When a preserve is to be made of the root-stocks, they are 



M M 2 



