264 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



stomachic. They are used for flavoring sauces and for disguising unpleasant 

 tastes in medicinal mixtures, and m tinctures, in confectionery and cordials, 

 and they are a well-known masticatory. 



ZINGIBER, Adans. Calyx membranous, tubular, and short, 3- 

 lobed. Corolla tubular, cylindrical, dilated above ; lobes narrov^', 

 inner ones incurved, concave, lateral ones spreading ; lip small, 

 middle lobe longer, entire or bifid. Anther on the erect filament 

 oblong ; connective linear, or awl-shaped, extending beyond the 

 anther cells. Ovary 3-celled, containing many ovules. Style thread- 

 like ; stigma projecting beyond the anther cells, sometimes very 

 small and globose. Capsule oblong or globular; seed-vessel hard, 

 opening irregularly ; seed large and oblong. It flowers in September, 

 the stem withers away by the first of the following January, and the 

 root is harvested in February. 



Z. officinalis, Rose. (Ginger.) The stem is subterranean, of the rhizome 

 character ; the branches or aerial stems are 2 to 5 feet high, solid, erect, with 



imbricated membranous sheaths. Leaves 

 lanceolate, acute, smooth, 5 to 6 inches long 

 and 1 inch wide, alternate, with ovate, acu- 

 minate sheaths. The scapes are terminated 

 with spikes of whitish or dirty yellowish 

 / "^tT; /MMM flowers, whose lips are streaked with purple, 



and spotted ; spikes bracteate, oval, and ob- 

 tuse ; bracts yellowish-green, with mem- 

 branous edges. 



The roots or underground stems are 3 to 

 4 inches long, made up of a number of short 

 lobe-like shoots or knobs, whose tops are 

 marked each with a scar, showing the spot 

 where the stem grew. There are other spe- 

 cies of this genus, about twenty in all ; but 

 the officinalis furnishes the ginger of com- 

 merce. 



Geography. — The ginger plant is tropical, 

 or, strictlv speaking, subtropical. It is cul- 



ZiNGiBER OFFICINALIS (Ginger). ^;^.^^^g^ in southern Asia, and on the southern 



slopes of the Himalayas. It is an important 



crop in the West Indies, whither it has been carried by Europeans from 



southern Asia. In the same manner it has found its way to the western coast 



of Africa, where it is also largely cultivated. 



Etijinologfj. — Zingiber, the botanic name, is claimed by some to be geograph- 

 ical, from the Island of Zanzibar, where it first became known to Europeans. 

 By others it is believed to be the Latinized form of the Sanscrit word cringa, 

 a horn, due to the fancied resemblance of the root to a stag's horn. Ginger, 

 the popular name, is a corruption of the word zingiber. Officinalis is the Latin 

 for "useful," or "serviceable." 



Histori/. — Ginger was known to the Greeks and Romans in the first century 

 of the Christian era, and was in common use in England before the Norman 



