390 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
always being grown from cuttings, that is to say, by 
asexual reproduction, and not or very rarely propagated 
by seed. 
The Malays are acquainted with three forms, which 
they know as Halyia betul, Halyia bara or Halyia 
padi, and Halyia hudang. 
Halyia betul (true ginger) is the name given to a 
form with rather broader leaves and white flesh to the 
rhizome. It is taller also than the others. It is the 
one used for making sweetmeats, and also as an adjunct 
to curry. 
Halyia bara or Halyia padi (bara, hot coals ; padi, 
rice), on account of the hotter taste and narrower leaves, 
is a smaller plant with yellowish rhizome. This is a 
more pungent variety, and is used in medicines. 
Halyia hudang (prawn, i.e. red ginger) is a Sumatran 
variety used in medicine. It much resembles the last, 
but the base of the stem is redder. It is chiefly used in 
native medicines. 
In Jamaica the planter divides the plant into “ blue ” 
and “ yellow ” ginger, so called from the colour of the 
rhizome. The names “turmeric” ginger and “flint 
ginger” are also used for the yellow and blue respec- 
tively. The turmeric ginger must of course not be 
confused with the true turmeric. Kilmer states that 
he cannot distinguish between the plant producing blue 
and yellow ginger, and says that many intelligent 
planters are unable to distinguish them apart without 
inspecting the rhizomes. He suggests that the “ blue 
ginger” is a degenerate form. The root of the blue 
ginger is hard and fibrous, yields a smaller proportion of 
powder, is less pungent, and less valuable commercially. 
In another part of his paper he talks of the better 
quality as “white ginger.” Yellow ginger of Jamaica 
has gradually, it appears, driven out the inferior blue 
ginger as being a more valuable kind, but where the 
ground is too poor to grow the best variety the in- 
ferior form may be grown. The blue kind seems to 
have been the first introduced into and cultivated in 
