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MABANTACEAE. 



1. MAHANTA L. 



Caulescent herbs, with branching stems. Leaves alternate, ovate or lanceo- 

 late, often abruptly bent at the base, the petioles partly sheathing. Flowers 

 solitary or few in panicles. Sepals 3, herbaceous, equal, distinct; corolla 

 often white, the 3 petals partially united. Staminodia conspicuous, 2 of 

 them surpassing the corolla. Anthers 1-celled. Ovary 1-celled but with 2 

 additional abortive cavities. Style stout, curved. Stigma oblique. Capsule 

 utricle-like. Seed erect, solitary, [Dedicated to Earth. Maranta, a Venetian 

 physician.] Some 15 species, natives of tropical America, the following typical. 



1. Maranta arundinacea L. ARROW- 

 ROOT. (Fig. 110.) Stems 3-5 tall, 

 from starchy copiously scaly rootstocks. 

 more or less branched and rather weak, 

 sometimes reclining, zigzag, 4'-10' long, 

 acute, many-veined; flowers few, fuga- 

 cious; sepals green, lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, 5"-6" long; corolla white, 

 nearly 1' long, its lobes lanceolate; 

 staminodia flabellate-cuneate, surpassing 

 the corolla, erose, notched; capsules 

 broadly oblong. 



Spontaneous or persistent after cultiva- 

 tion. Native of tropical America. Flowers 

 in summer and autumn, sometimes earlier. 

 Arrowroot was formerly much more ex- 

 tensively grown and exported than now. 



Maranta bicolor Ker., TWO-COLORED 

 ARROW-ROOT, Brazilian, taken from the 

 New York Botanical Garden to Paynter's 

 Vale in 1913, and growing pretty well 

 there in shade in 1914, is about 1 high, 

 or less, with ovate, short-petioled acute 

 leaves 3'-6' long, cordate at the base, 

 purple beneath, green above with brown- 

 green blotches between the margins and 

 midrib, and a central light green area 

 extending outward along the stronger lateral veins. 



Family 4. MUSACEAE J. St. Hilaire. 

 BANANA FAMILY. 



Tall herbaceous plants with large, entire, finely veined leaves, and 

 monoecious or perfect, clustered, bracted flowers. Sepals 3, distinct or 

 united. Corolla of 3 distinct or more or less united petals. Pistil of 3 

 united carpels. Polliniferous stamens 5. Ovary inferior, 3-celled; style 

 central; stigma 3-6-toothed, or 3-cleft. Fruit in'dehiscent or capsular and 

 3-valved. Four genera and 50 species or more, natives of tropical regions, 

 none native nor naturalized in Bermuda. 



Musa Cavendishii Lamb., CHINESE DWARF BANANA, Chinese, extensively 

 and very successfully grown, is usually not over 6 or 8 high, with a stem 



