ZING1BERACEAE. 87 



Family 2. ZINGIBERACEAE Lindl. 



GINGER FAMILY. 



Perennial, mostly large herbs, with sheathing leaves, and perfect 

 irregular flowers in bracted clusters. Calyx tubular or spathe-like. Corolla 

 of 3 petals, separate or more or less united. Stamen 1, the anther 2- 

 celled. Staminodes commonly 2 and petaloid. Ovary mostly 3-celled, 

 many-ovuled ; style slender. About 25 genera and over 300 species, of 

 tropical distribution. 



Bermuda has no native nor naturalized species of this family. 



Zingiber Zingiber (L.) Karst. [Z. officinale Bpscoe], GINGER, East Indian, 

 is easily grown, sueceding best when slightly shaded, but has not become of 

 economic importance, though the rootstocks are of good quality. It has an 

 upright, leafy stem up to 4 high, the lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate leaves 1 

 long or less; its rather large flowers are borne in a dense spike 2'-4' long, on a 

 scaly scape which arises from the rootstock, and is shorter than the leaf -bearing 

 stem; the lateral corolla-lobes are oblong, about S' long, and somewhat longer 

 than the broader, 3-lobed, purple lip. 



Languas speciosa (Wendl.) J. K. Small, SHELL-FLOWER, SHELL-PLANT, 

 grown for ornament, has leafy stems 8-12 high, the shining oblong-lanceolate 

 leaves 6'-15' long, acuminate at the apex; the bracted flowers are borne in 

 dense, terminal' nodding panicles, the rachis and pedicels pubescent; the calyx 

 is nearly 1' long, the white corolla-lobes, tinged with magenta, are shorter than 

 the crisped, yellow, red-brown-variegated lip. [Alpinia nutans Eoscoe; A. 

 speciosa (Wendl.) Schum. ; Eenealmia occidental-is of Jones.] 



Hedychium coronarium Koenig, WHITE HEDYCHIUM, East Indian, also 

 grown for ornament, has leafy stems up to 8 tall, the lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, pointed leaves 2 long or less; the large white flowers are in 

 terminal dense bracted spikes, the slender corolla-tube about twice as long as 

 the calyx, its lobes nearly linear, the large white lip very broad, often 2' wide. 

 [H. elatum of Jones; H. speciosum of H. B. Small.] 



Hedychium Gardnerianum Roscoe, YELLOW HEDYCHIUM, also East Indian, 

 occasionally planted, has similar leaves, but the flowers are yellow, and much 

 smaller, the lip oval, about f wide. 



Family 3. MAR ANT ACE AE Lindl. 

 ARROWROOT FAMILY. 



Tall herbs, perennial by rootstocks or tubers, or sometimes annual, with 

 scapose or leafy stems, mostly large entire long-petioled sheathing leaves, 

 often swollen at the base of the blade, the veins pinnate, parallel. Flowers 

 perfect, or sometimes polygamous, in panicles, racemes or spikes. Perianth 

 superior, its segments distinct to the summit of the ovary, or united into a 

 tube, normally in 2 series of 3, the outer (sepals) usually different from the 

 inner (petals). Perfect stamen 1; anthers 1-2-celled. Staminodia mostly 

 5, often petal-like, very irregular. Ovary 1-3-celled, inferior; ovule 1 in 

 each cavity, anatropous; style slender, curved, terminal; stigma simple. 

 Fruit capsular or berry-like. Seed solitary in each cavity. Embryo cen- 

 tral, in copious endosperm. About 12 genera and 160 species, mostly 

 tropical. 



