Oleoresina Zingiberis. U. S.

Botanical name: 

Oleoresina Zingiberis. U. S.

Oleoresin of Ginger. Oleores. Zingib.

Related entry: Zingiber

Extractum Zingiberis Aethereum; Oleoresine (Piperoide) de Gingembre, Fr; Zingiberin, Aetherisches Ingwerextrakt, G.

"Ginger, in No. 60 powder, five "hundred grammes [or 17 ounces av., 279 grains]; Ether, a sufficient quantity. Place the ginger in a cylindrical glass percolator, provided with a stop-cock, and arranged with a cover and a receptacle suitable for volatile liquids. Pack the powder firmly, and percolate slowly with ether, added in successive portions, until the drug is exhausted. Recover the greater part of the ether from the percolate by distillation on a water bath, and, having transferred the residue to a dish, allow the remaining ether to evaporate spontaneously in a warm place. Keep the Oleoresin in a well-stoppered bottle." U. S.

In the U. S. formula of 1870 for this preparation alcohol was used in connection with ether, on the score of economy: it was added in order to displace the ether and thus save an unnecessary expenditure of the more costly fluid. A little of the alcohol mixed with the ether at their surface of contact. In the present process both ether and alcohol have been replaced by the solvent, ether. The whole of the virtues of the root are extracted in this preparation, as the residuary ginger is nearly or quite tasteless. The oleoresin constitutes about 5 per cent. of the dried root. It is the piperoid of ginger of Beral. (Soubeiran's Traite de Pharm., i, 371.) It is a clear, dark-brown liquid, of a thick consistence (though capable of being dropped), with the flavor of ginger, and very pungent.

The oleoresin of ginger is a useful stimulant in alcoholic gastritis, chronic serous diarrheas and other atonic conditions of the alimentary canal.

Dose, one-half to one minim (0.03-0.06 mil), well diluted.


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.