Ginger

Ginger

Scientific name: Zingiber officinale Rosc.

Local name: ‘Ada’

Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)

Kingdom         : Plantae

Division           :Magnoliophyta

Class                :Liliopsida

Subclass          :Commelinids

Order               :Zingiberales

Family             : Zingiberacae

Genus              : Zingiber

Species            :Z. officinale

Botanical Description of Zinger

Habit: An upright, slender, perennial herb

Root: Adventitous root system

Stem: underground rhizome with aroma, the rhizomes are thick, fleshy, and often iregularly branched. They are formed by many internodes with thin scale.

Leaf: Simple, sessile, composed of leaf sheath and leaf blade

Inflorescence: Solitary in head, the inflorescence does not arises from the leaf or leaf axis, vertically growing shoots or stems, but direct from the nodes of the rhizomes.

Flower: Zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, epigynous, flowers grow in dense spike. Most of the are cultivars are sterileflowers are not seen.

Perianth:Tepal 6, in two whorls, calyx tubular-spatthaceous, corolla tubular pale yellow

Androecium: Stamen 6 in two whorls

Gynoecium: Carpel 3, syncarpous, ovary inferior

Fruit: Capsule

Chromosome number: 2n=22

Economic Importance: Zinger is mainly used as spices, the dried rhizomes, which may be scraped or peeled before drying, constitute the spice. It is widely used as folk medicine to treat various ailment. The dried rhizome contains around 10% water, 10-20% protein, 40-60% carbohydrate, 10% fat, 2-10% fiber and 6% ash.

Table 1: Ginger variety released by SRC, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur