Editing Ginger (section)

{{Short description|Species of plant used as a spice}}
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{{About|the plant|other uses|Ginger (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Ginger root|the music project|Ginger Root (music project)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Koeh-146-no_text.jpg
| image_caption = 1896 color plate from<br>''[[Köhler's Medicinal Plants]]''
| image2 = Ginger inflorescence.jpg
| image2_caption = Inflorescence
| genus = Zingiber
| species = officinale
| authority = [[William Roscoe|Roscoe]]<ref name="GRIN">{{GRIN|access-date=10 December 2017}}</ref>
}}

'''Ginger''' (''Zingiber officinale'') is a [[flowering plant]] whose [[rhizome]], '''ginger root''' or ginger, is widely used as a [[spice]] and a [[folk medicine]].<ref name="nccih">{{cite web|url=https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/ginger|title=Ginger, NCCIH Herbs at a Glance|date=1 December 2020|publisher=US [[NCCIH]]|access-date=4 September 2023}}</ref> It is an [[herbaceous]] [[perennial]] that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall, bearing narrow leaf blades. The [[inflorescence]]s bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate [[shoot (botany)|shoots]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Plant resources of South-East Asia: no.13: Spices|vauthors=Sutarno H, Hadad EA, Brink M|publisher=Backhuys Publishers|year=1999|veditors=De Guzman CC, Siemonsma JS|location=Leiden (Netherlands)|pages=238–244|chapter=Zingiber officinale Roscoe}}</ref>

Ginger is in the [[family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Zingiberaceae]], which also includes [[turmeric]] (''Curcuma longa''),<ref>{{cite web|title=''Curcuma longa'' L.|url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:796451-1|publisher=Plants of the World Online, Kew Science, Kew Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England|access-date=26 March 2018|year=2018}}</ref> [[cardamom]] (''Elettaria cardamomum''), and [[galangal]]. Ginger originated in [[Maritime Southeast Asia]] and was likely domesticated first by the [[Austronesian peoples]]. It was transported with them throughout the [[Indo-Pacific]] during the [[Austronesian expansion]] ({{circa|5,000}} [[Before Present|BP]]), reaching as far as [[Hawaii]]. Ginger is one of the first spices to have been exported from Asia, arriving in [[Europe]] with the [[spice trade]], and was used by [[ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref name="Kew"/> The distantly related [[dicots]] in the genus ''[[Asarum]]'' are commonly called wild ginger because of their similar taste. 

Ginger has been used in [[traditional medicine]] in China, India and Japan for centuries, and as a modern [[dietary supplement]]. Ginger may offer benefits over placebo for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy,<ref name=preg/> but there is no good evidence that it helps with nausea during [[chemotherapy]].<ref name=chemo/> It remains uncertain whether ginger is effective for treating any disease.<ref name=drugs/> In 2023, world production of ginger was 4.9&nbsp;million [[tonne]]s, led by India with 45% of the total.