86 



CANNACEAE. 



Order 10. SCITAMINALES. 



Large monocotyledonous herbs with very irregular flowers. Ovary 

 inferior, composed of several united carpels. Seeds with endosperm. 



Pollen-bearing stamen only 1. 



Ovules many in each ovary-cavity ; fruit a capsule. 



Anthers 1-celled. Fam. 1. CANXACEAB. 



Anthers 2-celled. Fam. 2. ZIXGIBERACEAE. 



Ovule 1 in each ovary-cavity ; fruit a utricle. Fam. 3. MAKANTACEAE. 



Pollen-bearing stamens 5. Fam. 4. MUSACEAE. 



Family 1. CANNACEAE Link. 

 CANNA FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs, with erect stems. Leaves alternate; the petioles 

 sheathing the stem. Flowers perfect, in terminal racemes or spike-like 

 racemes. Perianth usually showy, large. Sepals 3, imbricated, erect. 

 Petals 3, more or less united below into a tube and adnate to the corolloid 

 androecium. Filaments petal-like, the 3 exterior nearly equal, sterile, the 

 2 interior more or less united, but only one filament anther-bearing. 

 Carpels 3; ovary 3-celled, inferior, with parietal placentae; style petal- 

 like ; stigma marginal ; ovules numerous. Fruit a 3-celled loculicidally 3- 

 valved papillose or bristly capsule. Seeds with a membranous or some- 

 what fleshy testa, embryo sometimes flattened; endosperm horny. Only 

 the following genus. 



1. CANNA L. 



Characters of the family. [Latin, a cane or reed.] About 35 species, 

 natives tropical America. Type species: Canna indica L. 



1. Canna indica L. CANE SHOT. 

 INDIAN SHOT. (Fig. 109.) Stems 1- 

 3 tall, commonly simple, slender. 

 Leaves oblong, elliptic-oblong or elliptic- 

 ovate, 8'-20' long, acute or acuminate, 

 entire, rounded at the base ; petioles 

 sheathing ; spikes few-flowered ; sepals 

 oblong, acute ; petals pale green or yel- 

 lowish-green, lanceolate, about 14' long; 

 filaments bright red ; lip reddish-yel- 

 low, spotted with red, entire. 



Waste grounds, escaped from cultiva- 

 tion. 



Canna coccinea Ait., West Indian, 

 a similar usually taller species, the lip 

 2-cleft, is grown for ornament. 



Canna glauca L., YELLOW CANNA, 

 tropical American, with bright yellow 

 flowers (probably the plant recorded by 

 H. B. Small as C. lutea) and Canna 

 edulis Ker., Tous-LES-Mois, a tall red- 

 flowered species with tuberous edible 

 rootstocks, are grown in gardens, the 

 latter, occasionally, as a crop. Numerous 

 selected Cannas are grown for ornament. 



