Ginger belongs to the family Zingiberaceae, genus Zingiber and species Zingiber officinale. Its generic name Zingiber is derived from the Greek zingiberis, which comes from the Sanskrit name of the spice, singabera. Ginger is the dried knobby shaped rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale. The Latin name, zingiber, derives from interpretations of the name in Indic languages where ginger was described as “shaped like a deer’s antler (horn)”. Ginger goes by many names in different languages such as jiang (Chinese), adrak (Hindi), jengibre (Spanish), zenzero (Italian), gingembre (French), zanjabeel (Arabic), and ingwer (German). The English origin of the word "ginger" is from the mid-14th century, from Old English gingifer, which derives in turn from the Medieval Latin gingiber, gingiber from the Greek ζιγγίβερις zingiberis from the Prakrit (Middle Indic) siṅgabera, and siṅgabera from the Sanskrit śṛṅgavera. The Sanskrit word is thought to come from an ancient Dravidian word that also produced the Tamil and Malayalam term iñcivēr (from vēr, "root"); an alternative explanation is that the Sanskrit word comes from srngam, meaning "horn", and vera, meaning "body" (describing the shape of its root), but that may be folk etymology. The word probably was readopted in Middle English from the Old French gingibre (modern French gingembre). Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a herbaceous flowering plant that belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. They are perennial plants that live for more than two years. Ginger is a rhizome which is a modification of the stem. It is native to Southeastern Asia and is known for its pungent smell. Common ginger is a herbaceous perennial with upright stems and narrow medium green leaves arranged in two ranks on each stem. The plant gets about 4 ft tall with leaves about 3/4 in wide and 7 inches long. Ginger grows from an aromatic tuberlike rhizome which is warty and branched. The inflorescence grows on a separate stem from the leaf stem, and forms a dense spike, up to 3 in tall. The bracts are green with translucent margins and the small flowers are yellow green with purple lips and cream colored blotches. Most gingers in cultivation are sterile cultivars grown for the edible rhizome, and the flower is rarely seen. The ginger plant has a long history of cultivation, having originated in Asia and is grown in India, Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Caribbean. Common name of Ginger in • Hindi: Adrak • Manipuri: Shing • Marathi: Alha, Aale • Tamil: Ingee, Inji • Malayalam: Inchi, Enchi • Telugu: Allam, Allamu, Allamu chettu, Shonti • Kannada: Alla, Shunthi • Bengali: Ada • Oriya: Ada • Urdu: اAdrak, Adi • Assamese: Ada • Gujarati: Adu, Sunth • Sanskrit: Adraka • Nepali: Aduwa. Ginger, African ginger, Cochin ginger, Jamaican ginger, Race ginger. Ginger may also be referred to as true ginger, stem ginger, garden ginger or root ginger and it is believed to have originated in the Southeast Asia. In this review article on Origin, Domestication, Taxonomy, Botanical Description, Genetics and Cytogenetics, Genetic Diversity, Breeding of Ginger are discussed.
