Ginger

Zingiber officinale

Zingiberaceae

A tropical rhizome for queasy stomachs, cold hands, and dull inflammatory ache.

Food spice worldwide.

Parts used: Rhizome
Traditional notes: Nausea · Motion sickness · Poor circulation / cold extremities · Post-meal heaviness
Grow · USDA 6b: Tropical perennial. Treat as a tender pot plant north of zone 9. Plant plump supermarket rhizome pieces with eyes in late winter, indoors. In work: Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Harvest: Baby ginger at 4–5 months; mature knobs at 8–10 months when leaves yellow.

Start a plump supermarket knob in a pot of loose mix, eyes up, barely covered.
It wants heat, humidity, and shade from hard afternoon sun.
Baby ginger is ready when the stems are still green; wait longer for tight storage knobs.

Safety

Gallstones (stimulates bile) Close to surgery unless a clinician clears it

Lore

Ginger rode the spice routes so early that the Greeks thought it grew in Arabia. Medieval Europe paid for it by the root as if it were coin. The word itself is Sanskrit śṛṅgavera — ‘horn-body’ — a name for the knobs long before anyone drew the plant.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.