104 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



India, where it grows amongst the bushes; it is however 

 extensively cultivated in many parts of India, especially 

 Bengal. The use of long pepper in this country is rather 

 limited, and as the returns are always included in those of 

 black pepper, the consumption cannot be exactly ascertained. 



Ginger. — The dried underground stem, or rhizome, of the 

 elegant reed-like tropical plant. Zingiber officinale, (Nat. 

 Ord. Zingiber acece,) (Plate III. fig. 12.) 



Some doubt exists as to the native country of this spice, 

 but it is generally supposed to belong to the warmer parts 

 of Asia. It has long been known and esteemed. Dioscorides 

 and Pliny both mentioned it ] the former under the name 

 of ^(/yyl^epc^;, and the latter Zingiberi, By modern botanists 

 it was formerly called Amomum Zingiber ; but Mr. Eoscoe, — 

 whose splendid work on the ^ Scitaminese,^ a Natural Order 

 to which the Ginger was formerly referred, has entitled him 

 to as high a rank amongst botanists as his miscellaneous 

 works have elevated him amongst writers of belles lettres, 

 • — removed the ginger-plant from the genus Arnomum, and 

 raised it to a distinct genius, to which he judiciously gave 

 the Plinian name Zingiber. 



The ginger of commerce is in the form of dry wrinkled 

 rhizomes, called races, about two or three inches in length. 



