Am"/uiy?i908arm'}    Examination  of  Commercial  Ginger.  311 
the  dried  commercial  specimens  the  contents  consist  of  a  yellowish 
to  reddish-brown  balsam-like  or  resinous  substance,  which  becomes 
of  a  deep  brownish-black  color  on  treatment  with  sulphuric  acid. 
In  Cochin  ginger  many  of  these  cells  contain  a  black  tar-like  pro- 
duct. 
The  elongated  secretion  cells  are  from  60  to  150  \x  long  and  from 
9  to  1 5  in  diameter.  They  are  somewhat  irregular  in  outline  and 
more  or  less  pointed  at  the  ends.  In  dried  material  the  contents 
are  of  a  yellow  or  bright  yellowish-brown  color. 
Fibrovascular  Bundles. — The  fibrovascular  bundles  are,  as  already 
stated,  of  the  closed  collateral  type,  and  the  group  of  cells  composing 
them  vary  in  diameter  from  60  to  360  fi,  the  smaller  bundles  always 
being  in  the  region  of  the  endodermis,  and  the  larger  occurring  in 
the  stele,  and  averaging  from  three  to  five  in  number  per  square 
millimeter.  The  bundles  may  consist  entirely  of  two  or  three 
tracheae  and  accompanying  sieve  cells,  or  they  may  include,  in  addi- 
tion, from  two  or  three  to  forty-five  or  fifty  sclerenchymatous  fibers. 
The  latter  appear  to  be  more  numerous  in  the  Calcutta  and  Calicut 
gingers.  The  tracheae  are  mostly  reticulate,  and  vary  from  30  to 
60  fx  in  diameter  {Fig,  5).  The  walls  consist  mostly  of  cellulose 
and  contain  little  or  no  lignin,  that  is,  the  reaction  with  phloroglucin 
is  very  obscure.  The  sclerenchymatous  fibers  vary  from  0-3  to  1-3 
mm.  long,  and  from  20  to  30  /jl  in  diameter.  The  walls  are  about 
3  fx  thick,  slightly  yellowish,  and  have  slender  oblique  simple  pores. 
The  walls  are  said  to  be  slightly  lignified,  but  this  does  not  appear 
to  be  true  of  the  samples  herein  described.  They  readily  swell  with 
sulphuric  acid,  are  first  colored  deeper  yellow  with  chlor-zinc-iodide, 
then  blue,  and  are  not  affected  by  phloroglucin  and  hydrochloric 
acid.  The  fibers  are  easily  separated  either  in  the  crude  drug  or 
powder  by  the  use  of  Schulze's  macerating  fluid,  and  some  of  the 
more  typical  ones  from  the  different  gingers  are  shown  in  Fig.  4. 
Endodermis  .—The  endodermal  cells  are  not  especially  character- 
istic, but  on  treatment  with  sulphuric  acid  the  radial  walls  are  seen 
to  be  suberized.  Sometimes  the  other  walls  appear  to  be  partly 
suberized.  The  cells  are  from  60  to  90  ijl  long  and  about  12  fx  in 
diameter. 
Cork. — The  cork  cells  are  of  the  usual  type,  and  in  the  African 
ginger  the  cork  layer  is  about  0  3  mm.  thick  ;  in  Calcutta  ginger, 
about  0-4  mm.  thick.  The  cells  are  on  an  average  about  60  fi  long, 
and  25  fi  wide. 
