Ginger essential oil has a warm, spicy, slightly green, fresh woody scent. It is a comforting and warming oil known to ease anxiety and renew vitality. It is used by aromatherapists in muscular massage blends to help warm chilly limbs, ease stiffness and relax muscular cramps.
- Latin Name
- Zingiber Officinale
- Family
- Zingiberaceae
- Note
- Middle to Base
- Extraction
- Essential oil by steam distillation from the unpeeled dried ground root.
- Constituents
- Gingerine, gingerone, gingenol, linalol, zingiberine, camphene, phellandrene, citral, cineol, borneol among others.
- Origin
- China
A perennial herb which can grow over a metre in height, with a thick spreading tuberous rhizome which has a strong aroma. It annually shoots up a green stalk with narrow spear-shaped leaves and produces clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers.
History
It has been used as a medicine since very early times and is mentioned in the literature of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Arabians. It is best known as a digestive aid, especially in the West, the Chinese used it for many complaints such as rheumatism, malaria, bacterial dysentery and the common cold among others. Also used as a domestic spice.