THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JULY,  1908 
THE  MICROSCOPICAL  AND  CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION 
OF  COMMERCIAL  GINGER* 
By  Henry  Kraemer  and  Harry  B.  Sindaee. 
Besides  its  use  in  medicine,  ginger  is  extensively  used  in  the 
United  States,  both  as  a  condiment  and  confection,  and  also  in  the 
preparation  of  ginger  ale.  While  there  are  about  twenty  species  of 
the  genus  Zingiber,  most  of  the  commercial  article  is  obtained  from 
Zingiber  officinale,  Roscoe.  According  to  Watt,1  this  species  is  not 
known  in  a  truly  wild  state,  but  is  doubtless  a  native  of  Tropical 
Asia.  It  is  now  extensively  cultivated  in  both  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Hemispheres,  having  been  introduced  into  nearly  all 
tropical  countries. 
It  is  a  perennial  herbaceous  plant,  belonging  to  the  family  Zingi- 
beracece,  a  monocotyledonous  group  of  plants  which  are  character- 
ized by  their  aromatic  properties.  The  plant  produces  two  kinds  of 
shoots,  one  composed  of  leaves  only  and  one  which  bears  flowers^ 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connection  that  although  the  plant  is 
grown  in  many  of  the  botanic  gardens  of  the  world,  it  is  claimed  by 
Bentley  and  Trimen2  that  it  does  not  flower  under  these  conditions. 
An  excellent  illustration  of  the  plant  is  given  by  Berg  and  Schmidt,3 
and  this  has  been  reproduced  by  Engler  and  Prantl4  and  other 
authors. 
*  This  is  the  second  of  this  series  of  papers,  the  first  having  appeared  in  the 
January  number  of  this  Journae  on  the  "Examination  of  Black  Pepper." 
It  probably  should  be  stated  that  the  chemical  analyses  given  in  this  series 
of  papers  are  beiug  carried  on  by  Mr.  Sindall,  the  remaining  part  of  the 
work  being  by  Professor  Kraemer. 
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