1135

 Zingiber officinale Roscoe

Synonym	:	Amomum zingiber  L.,
Family	:	Zingiberaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam - Inji
Flowering and fruiting period	:	August to October
Distribution	:	Cultivated in tropical countries throughout the world.
Uses	:	This is an important spice used in the preparation of condiments, curries, pickles and syrups.  It is one of the reputed drugs of Ayurveda and is employed in indigenous systems of medicine.  It is pungent, hot, anodyne, antirheumatic, carminative, cooling, diuretic and aphrodisiac.  It promotes digestive power, cleanses the throat and tongue, dispels cardiac disorders and cures vomiting, cough, fever, anemia, constipation and elephantiasis.  In traditional medicine, ginger is extensively used for its specific action in rheumatism and inflammation of liver (Aiyer & Kolammal, 1964; Kurupp et al., 1979).
Key botanical characters: Rhizome 2-3 cm thick, palmately lobed, greyish-yellow within, pungent. Leafy shoot upto 1 m tall.  Leaves sessile; ligule 2-4 mm long, membranous, slightly bilobed, base hairy; lamina 25-30 x 1.5-2 cm, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, base attenuate, lower surface hairy, upper glabrous.  Inflorescence radical, on a 15-25 cm long leafless peduncle, enclosed by 3-5 cm long, minutely pubescent sheaths; spike 4-7 x 2-3 cm long.  Bracts 2.5 x 1.5-2 cm, green with a paler membranous margin, the lower ones usually mucronate, turning to red at maturity.  Flowers  dark purple, blotched creamy-yellow.