390 SPICES 



CHAP. 



always being grown from cuttings, that is to say, by 

 asexual reproduction, and not or very rarely propagated 

 nr- by seed. 



The Malays are acquainted with three forms, which 

 they know as Halyia betul, Halyia bara or Halyia 

 padi, and Halyia hudang. 



Halyia betul (true ginger) is the name given to a 

 form with rather broader leaves and white flesh to the 

 rhizome. It is taller also than the others. It is the 

 one used for making sweetmeats, and also as an adjunct 

 to curry. 



Halyia bara or Halyia padi (bara, hot coals ; padi, 

 rice), on account of the hotter taste and narrower leaves, 

 is a smaller plant with yellowish rhizome. This is a 

 more pungent variety, and is used in medicines. 

 ; Halyia hudang (prawn, i.e. red ginger) is a Sumatran 

 variety used in medicine. It much resembles the last, 

 but the base of the stem is redder. It is chiefly used in 

 .native medicines. 



/ In Jamaica the planter divides the plant into " blue " 

 and " yellow " ginger, so called from the colour of the 

 rhizome. The names "turmeric" ginger and "flint 

 ginger" are also used for the yellow and blue respec- 

 tively. The turmeric ginger must of course not be 

 confused with the true turmeric. Kilmer states that 

 he cannot distinguish between the plant producing blue 

 and yellow ginger, and says that many intelligent 

 planters are unable to distinguish them apart without 

 inspecting the rhizomes. He suggests that the " blue 

 ginger" is a degenerate form. The root of the blue 

 ginger is hard and fibrous, yields a smaller proportion of 

 powder, is less pungent, and less valuable commercially. 

 In another part of his paper he talks of the better 

 quality as " white ginger." Yellow ginger of Jamaica 

 has gradually, it appears, driven out the inferior blue 

 ginger as being a more valuable kind, but where the 

 ground is too poor to grow the best variety the in- 

 ferior form may be grown. The blue kind seems to 

 have been the first introduced into and cultivated in 



