606 ZINGIBEEACEiE OE SCITAMINE^. 



loped, their texture is more woody, and they are then fit for ordinary 

 ginger. When dried, after immersion in hot water, they form Black 

 ginger ; when simply dried lin the sun, after being cleaned, they 

 receive the name of White ginger. The rhizome contains an acrid 

 resin and volatile oil, starch and gum. It is used as a tonic and car- 

 minative, in the form of powder, syrup, and tincture. The kinds of 

 ginger in the market are Jamaica (the best), Cochin, Bengal, and 

 African. Curcuma longa, a native of Eastern Asia, furnishes Turmeric. 

 This consists of the branches of the rhizome, or root-stock. Its 

 powder is lemon-yellow, and it is used as a dye-stuff. It contains 

 starch, an acrid volatile oil, and a yellow colouring matter called 

 Curcumin. It is employed medicinally as an aromatic carminative, 

 and, as a condiment, it enters into the composition of curry-powder. 

 The root-stock of Alpinia officiiMrwm, a Chinese plant, constitutes the 

 Galangal root of commerce, which has the same properties as ginger. 

 A. Galanga also supplies a similar rhizome. They have been used by 

 the Indian doctors in cases of dyspepsia and in the treatment of 

 coughs. Various 'species of Amomum, Elettaria, and Bmealmia, 

 appear to furnish the Cardamoms of the shops, which consist of the 

 oval trivalvular capsules containing the seeds. Elettaria Cardamomum 

 is the source of Malabar Cardamoms. The plant grows ia the moun- 

 tain forests of North Canara, Ooorg, and the Wynaad, on the Malabar 

 coast, from 2800 to 5000 feet above the level of the sea. The fruit 

 is ovoid and three-sided. The Malabar name for the plant is 

 Elettari. A variety, formerly called E. major, grows in Ceylon. 

 Amomum Cardamomum supplies the round Cardamoms of Java, 

 Sumatra, and Siam. A. xanthioides is the wild or bastard Carda- 

 mom of Siam; while Amomum aromaticum is the Bengal Cardamom.. 

 Amomum maximum, another Java species, furnishes a kind of Carda- 

 mom. The seeds of these plants are used as aromatic tonics and 

 carminatives. Their active ingredient is a puiigent volatile oil. 

 Grains of Paradise are the seeds of Amomum MeUgueta, Melegueta 

 Pepper, and have the same properties as Cardamoms. The plant is 

 widely distributed in tropical West Africa. It is also cultivated in 

 Demerara. East Indian Arrow-root is procured in part from Owrcwma 

 angustifolia, and a similar kind of starch is yielded by Curcuma 

 Zerumhet, 0. leucorhiza, and Alpinia Galanga. 



Order 188. — MAEANTACE.a; or Oannace^, the Arrow-root Family. 

 (Mono-Epigyn.) Perianth superior, va. 2 whorls ; outer (calyx) 3-lobed, 

 short ; inner (corolla) tubular, elongated, 3-parted, segments nearly 

 equal. Stamens in 2 whorls ; outer sterile, petaloid, irregular, resemb- 

 ling a tubular trifid corolla, with one of the lateral segments different 

 from the others ; inner petaloid, 2 sterile, and 1 lateral fertile ; filar 

 ment of the latter petaloid, entire, or 2-lobed ; anther on the margin 

 of the filament, 1 -celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 3-celled, 



