in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the monandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the eighth order, Scitamineae. The corolla is interior, inflated, and ringent, with the under lip trifid. There is but one species, viz. the arabicus, a native of the Indies. The root was formerly in some esteem as an attenuant, and serviceable in venereal complaints; but it is now rarely prescribed or met with in the shops.