Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root, or simply ginger, is widely used as a spice or a medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial which grows annual stems about a meter tall bearing narrow green leaves and yellow flowers. The rhizome (ginger) is gathered when the stalk withers; it is immediately scalded, or washed and scraped, to kill it and prevent sprouting.