TURMERIC 375 



The drug has a characteristic aromatic odour and taste, and when 

 chewed colours the saliva yellow. 

 The student should observe 



(a) The difference in shape between ' bulbs ' and ' fingers,' 



(6) The yellowish brown colour, 



(c) The horny consistence and waxy appearance of the interior. 



Constituents. Turmeric contains about 5 per cent, of volatile oil- 

 resin, a crystalline yellow body, curcumin. These are confined, in 

 the fresh rhizome, to the particular secreting cells in which they have 

 been produced, but pass during the scalding into the surrounding 

 tissue, the parenchymatous cells of which are filled with amorphous 

 masses of gelatinised starch. 



Curcumin, C 21 H 20 O 6 , forms reddish yellow prisms melting at 183, and readily 

 dissolving in alcohol, forming a deep yellow solution, the colour of which is 

 changed to reddish brown by alkalies. Evaporated after the addition of boric 

 acid the colour is reddish brown, which alkalies then change to blue. A mixture 

 of alcohol and sulphuric acid dissolves it with production of a brilliant crimson 

 red colour and forms an excellent means of detecting powdered turmeric in the 

 presence of many other substances. 



Uses. Turmeric is used as a condiment and colouring agent. 



Varieties, &c. Several commercial varieties of turmeric are known. 

 The majority of the drug is shipped from India, that from Madras 

 being the most esteemed. Other species of Curcuma (C. angustifolia, 

 Roxburgh, C. leucorhiza, Roxburgh) have paler coloured rhizomes ; 

 these are utilised in India for the production of starch, which is known 

 as ' East Indian Arrowroot.' 



Allied Drug. Zedoary (G. Zedoaria, Roscoe) , India ; circular slices 

 of a rhizome resembling bulb turmeric ; greyish or yellowish ; starchy ; 

 section exhibiting numerous oleo-resin cells, hairs, and bundles without 

 sclerenchymatous elements ; taste and odour resembling ginger but 

 less aromatic. 



GINGER 



(Zingiber, Rhizoma Zingiberis) 



Source, &C. Ginger is the dried rhizome of Zingiber officinale, Roscoe 

 (N.O. Scitaminece) , a reed-like plant producing leafy stems a metre 

 high, springing from branching rhizomes. It is a native of Asia, but 

 is cultivated in many tropical countries, notably in the West Indies, 

 in India, Africa, and Japan. 



There can be little doubt that ginger was well known in India as a 

 spice from the earliest times. The Greeks and Romans were well 

 acquainted with it, and its use spread in the ninth and tenth centuries 



