2010 



ZINGIBER 



ZINNIA 



Britain imported o.Gi'O.Ono pounds of Ginger valued at 

 $620,000. Medicinal Ginger is prepared from the dried 

 "root;" condimental Ginger from the green. Candied 

 (iinger is made from carefully selected, succulent young 

 rhizomes wliich are waslied and peeled and then pre- 

 served in jars of syrup. Housewives often preserve 

 their own Ginger; it is important to have the hands ].tro- 

 tected while scraping the roots or they will "burn" for 

 days. Ginger probahly could be cultivated commer- 

 cially in southern Florida and California. In Florida it 

 thrives in rich soil and partial shade, and the roots can 

 be dug and used at any time. The plant is cultivated 



2791. Zing-iber officinale 



commercially even iu localities where it is necessary to 

 lift the roots and .store them over the cool season, as iu 

 the inwer Himalayas. In the West Indies Ginger mav 

 be cultivated up tu an altitude of 3,500 feet. 



Zingibers are occasionally cultivated as stove decora- 

 tive plants. The shoots having a reed-like appearance, 

 they may often be used to good advantage in arranging; 

 plants for artistic effects. They are of the ensiest cui- 

 tiire. Proptigation is effected by <livision of the rliizomcs 

 in spring. Tlu-se should be poited in tibrous loam to 

 which a third of welhdecom[iosfd cow or sheep manure 



2792. Flower of the 

 Ginger plant (X Vi). 



has been added. Water should be given sparingly until 

 the shoots have well developed, when they should have 

 an abundance. They are also l)enefited by an occasional 

 watering with weak liquid manure water. Towards the 

 end of summer the shoots will begin to mature, when 

 the water supply should be di- 

 minished, and as soon as the 

 plants are ripened off the pots 

 may be stored either under the 

 greenhouse stages or in some 

 other convenient place, where 

 they should be kept almost dry 

 for the winter. 



Zingil)er may be taken as 

 the typical genus of the sin- 

 gular family ScitaminaceEe, with 

 its .36 genera and 450 species. 

 Bentham and Hooker state that 

 it is an extremely natural group, 

 well marked in leaf as well as 

 flower, and not connected with 

 any other family b}' a single 

 intermediate genus. The dis- 

 tinguishing feature of the fam- 

 ily largely resides in the sta- 

 mens. Sometimes there are 5 stamens and a sixth im- 

 perfect one; sometimes there is only one perfect stamen 

 and all the staminodes are petal-like. The anthers are 

 sometimes 2-celled, sometimes composed of one cell 

 borne on the margin of the connective. In Zingiber and 

 others the connective is produced into a long spur. Ge- 

 neric characters: rhizome horizontal, tuberous; Ivs. ob^ 

 long-lanceolate, clasping the stem by their long sheaths: 

 spikes usually radical, rarely lateral or tertninal on the- 

 leafy stem: calyx cylindric, shortly 3-lobed ; corolla- 

 segments lanceolate, upper concave; lateral staminodes 

 none or adnate to the lip; anther-cells contiguous; crest 

 narrow, as long as the cells. Thirty sjjecles, native to 

 Old World tropics. Compare Canna and Mnsa 



ofSicin^le, Rose. GiN(iEE. Figs. 2791-93. Rootstock' 

 biennial, bearing many sessile tubers: stem 3-4 ft. high 

 in tropics: Ivs. 6-13, in. long, lanceolate, glabrous be- 

 neath: spike 2-3x 1 in., oblong, produced from the root- 

 stock on peduncles }4-\ ft. long, with sheathing, scari- 

 ous bracts about 1 in. long: corolla-segments under 1 in. 

 long; stamen dark purple. 

 Gn."2n, p. 284. 



Z. corall'inuiti, Hsinoe, is a 

 Chinese species offered by Rea- 

 soiier Bros, in 1889 but probably 

 not in ciiltivation now. It is 

 not described in anv work to 

 whicli the nndersigned have at;- 

 cess. — Z. Zerianhpt, Roscoe, is 

 ciUt. and escaped in Porto Rico. 

 It has broadly lanceolate Ivs. 

 and large pale yellow fls.; about 

 4 feet. B.M. 2U0U. 



E. J. Canning and W. M. 



ZlNNTA (Johann Gott- 

 fried Zinn, I727-17.">9. pr.)- 

 fessor of botany at Gbttin- 

 gen). Coniposii'e. Youth - 

 AND - Old- A(;e. Plati- L. 

 The familiar Zinnias. Figs. 

 2794-96, are hardy tmnual 

 plants, growing a foot or 

 more liigh and covered from 

 July until the tirst hard 

 frost with double flowers 2 

 in. or more across. At least 

 fifteen well-marked <'olors 

 are commonly seen in Zin- 

 nias,— white, sulfur, yellow, 

 golden yellow, orange, scar- 

 let -orange, scarlet, flesh- 

 cnlor, lilac, rose, nuigenta. 

 crimson, violet, purjde and 

 dark purple. There are also 

 v;irii>ir;it(rl forms, Init the 

 Solid colnrs uv<' most popular. The Zinnia is rich in 

 sh;idrs of imrple mid or;inge, but lacks the charming 

 blue ;iiid pink of the ("liina aster nnd is poor in reds 



2793.' Commercial roots of 

 GinEcr, as seen in the 

 stores ( X ':. I. 



