ZINGIBER OFFICINALE. 



47 



ZINGIBER OFFICINALE, Roscoe. 



IVide Plate C] 



Ginger; adrak (fresh), sonth (dried) ; ada (Kumaun) ; zingabil, zinjabil (Arab.) ; shanviz 

 (Pers.) ; adraka and shringavera (fresh), nagara (dry) (Sans.). 



Natural order Scitaminece. A biennial herb with a thick tuberous root-stock. Stems leafy 

 3-4 feet high. Flowers in spikes, greenish with a small purplish black lip. The plant, however, 

 rarely flowers, and Roxburgh says that he never met with the seeds. 



The ginger plant is not known in a wild state, though generally believed to have 

 originated in Tropical Asia, whence it was introduced into the "West Indies. 



In these Provinces the cultivation of ginger is confined to the Himalayan districts 

 in moist situations up to 4 or 5,000 feet. The tubers are dug up during the months of 

 October and November, and after removing the rind, which is usually done by shaking 

 the tubers up in a basket, they are laid out in the sun to dry, and again shaken. In 

 this condition ginger is called sonth. 



The following is a description of ginger cultivation in the Hill States adjoining the 

 Umballa district : — The best pieces of last year's harvest are selected, and placed in a 

 corner of the bouse, and smeared over with cowdung to keep them moist. Pieces of 

 roots 3 inches long are buried in the soil (after two or three ploughings) 9 inches apart, 

 and the whole are covered with leaves, and over the leaves manure is spread half an inch 

 thick. A bigha of land requires 8 maunds of ginger to plant it, and yields 32 maunds 

 for a first-rate crop. Ginger fit for planting again sells at from 8 to 10 seers per 

 rupee, and that for use only at 24 to 32 seers per rupee (Punjab Products, page 299). 



Dymock states in his Veg. Mat. Med. of W. Ind., p. 762, that in Sanscrit works 

 ginger is mentioned as one of the three acids {trikatu), the other two being black pepper 

 and long pepper. 



Explanation of Plate C. 



1. Flower spike, ... ... ... ... . 



2. Single flosver, ... ... ... | 



3. Vertical section of ditto, f Co P ied from Beutle y and Trimen - 



4. Stamen and pistil, ... ... ... ... ' 



* References :— Fl. Br. Ind., VI., 246 ; Roxb., Fl. Ind. (Clarke's Ed.), 16 ; Asiat. Res., XI., 345 ; Royle, 111. Him. Hot., 

 358 ; Stewart, Pnnj. PI., 239 ; Atkinson, Him. Dist. L, 706, 754 ; Batten, Statist. Sketch of Kumaun (1878), p. 28 ; Bent, and 

 Trim., Med. PL, 270 ; Yule and Burnell, Gloss., 286. Porter, Trop. Agriculturist, 317 ; Smith, Dom. Bot., 171 ; Rheede, Hort. 

 Mai. XL, 21, t. 12 ; Rumph., Amboin., V., t. C6, Fig. 1. 



