GENUS MARANTA. 813 



STARCHES OF MARANTACE/E. 



Class, Monocotyledones. Order, Scitaminales. Family, Marantacea;. Genera 

 represented: Maranta, Calathea, Stromanthe. 



The Marantacece include about 12 genera and 150 species of herbaceous plants, all natives of 

 the tropics, mostly of America. The genera represented in this research are very closely allied, 

 and most of the cultivated forms of Maranta belong to other genera of the family, especially to 

 Calathea and Stromanthe. 



GENUS MARANTA. 



This genus includes about a dozen herbaceous tropical plants which are natives of Central 

 and Southern America. Maranta, Calathea, Stromanthe, Phrynium, and Thalia are closely allied, 

 and many of the Calathea and Stromanthe are marketed as Marantas. Starches from four recognized 

 species of Maranta were studied, including M. arundinacea Limi., M. massangeana E. Morr. (Cal- 

 athea massangea?ia Hort.), M. leuconeura E. Morr., M. kerchoveana E. Morr., M. kerchovei Hort. 

 (Calathea kerchoveana Hort.), and M. musaica Hort. In addition to these, two forms of commercial 

 arrowroot obtained from leading English importers, and stated to be from M. arundinacea, were 

 studied. The supplj* of Maranta arrowTOot to the trade originally came from Bermuda, hence the 

 name Bermuda arrowroot ; but now the supply seems to be from St. Vincent. 



The true Marantas include very few species. They are cultivated chiefly as foliage plants 

 and as a source of arrowi-oot. Arrowroot is a generic name, originally applied to starches obtained 

 from the rhizomes of a number of members of this genus, especially from M. arundinacea, but it soon 

 became a commercial term that has been attached to a number of starches from various species of 

 different genera, families, and orders. The word had its origin in the application by the Indians of 

 Jamaica of the crushed rhizome to poisoned-arrow wounds to extract the poison. The nutritive 

 value of tliis starch was recognized by Hughes in 1751, and it is due to this property that arrowroot 

 became an article of commerce and of importance as an article of diet of the sick. 



The true arro^TOot was originally obtained solely from M. arundinacea, which was taken from 

 the island of Dominica to Barbados, and later to Jamaica, and since then cultivated in various 

 parts of the West Indies, East Indies, Ceylon, Africa, Southeastern United States, and other coun- 

 tries. The same or different kinds of arrowroot are often distinguished in commerce merely b}' the 

 names of the countries in which they are produced. Next in importance to M. arundinacea as a 

 source of true arrowroot is M. indica Tussac, regarded as a distinct species, but only a variety. Its 

 chief differences from M. arundinacea are in its having leaves that are smooth on both sides and 

 pointed, and in the color of the seeds. 



Wickstrom concluded that M. arundinacea and M. indica are identical, and Fliickiger (Phar- 

 makognosie des Pflanzenreiches, 1881, 220) states that the differences are so slight that the latter 

 can not be regarded as a distinct species. Fliickiger records that the starches are identical, 

 but Hanausek (Microscopy of Technical Products, Trans, by Winton, 1907, 43) described certain 

 minor differences. In comparing the starches of M. arundinacea and M. indica, and a starch from 

 an uncertain soxnce which was described by von Hohnel (Die Starke und die Mahlproducte, 1882, 

 31) as a West Indian product, Hanausek found that the grains of M. indica are characterized by 

 their pronoimced wavy, angular outhnes; those of the von Hohnel starch by their rounded form; 

 and those of M. arundinacea by intermediate characteristics. Pariera (Materia Medica and Ther- 

 apeutics, edited by Joseph Carson, 1854, 226), one of the earliest authorities to describe West Indian 

 arro\vroot, refers to it as white, colorless, and tasteless, and in the form either of a light opaque white 

 powder or of small, pulverulent masses. The grains are convex, more or less elliptical, and mod- 

 erately uniform in size. The shape is more or less irregular, but often oblong, or usually somewhat 

 ovate oblong, frequently triangular, or oyster-shaped or mussel-shaped. In some of the samples, 

 after ha\'ing been digested in water, one or rarely two mammillary processes are seen projecting 

 from the surface of some of the particles. In some specimens these processes appeared like short 

 spines. The rings are very distinct, though fine. The hilum is usually very distinct, and generally 

 located towards one end of the grain; normally it is circular, but frequently cracked in a linear. 



