356 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Scitaminece. 
of vegetation, and both approach Jride@, as well as Orchidee@, in many points of struc- 
ture in the flowers. 
The Marantacee have only a single-celled anther placed on one side of the labellum, 
and are much more irregular in the suppression of parts, and therefore nearer Orchidee 
than the Scitaminee, from which they are moreover distinguished by the absence, as 
well of vitellus, as of the spicy flavour from which these have been named. Both 
orders are confined chiefly to the tropical parts of the world, but each sends a few 
species into more northern latitudes. Thus we find a Thalia and a Canna in S. Carolina. 
The latter genus was inferred from the majority of species being found there to be 
peculiar to America; but Dr.Wallich has obtained Canna indica from both the Indian 
and Malayan Peninsulas, as well as two new species, C. Nepalensis and speciosa, from 
Nepal; and my plant collectors informed me, that they had seen a plant like C. indica 
on Kangra, a mountain in the Himalaya to the west of Khalsee. The other genera found 
in India are, Phrynium and Marania ; P.imbricatum and capitatum, species of the former 
genus, in the districts of Chittagong and of Goalpara; while Maranta, with its other 
species in America and the West-Indies, has M.(Phrynium, Auct.) dichotoma and 
M. Tonchat, which includes M. virgata, common in the southern parts of India and of 
the Malayan Peninsula. | 
The Marantacee are remarkable for the quantity of fecula which is stored up in their 
rhizomata, or the so-called roots of several species; which, in its prepared state, is so 
well known under the name of Indian Arrow Root. This is obtained in the West- 
Indies from Maranta arundinacea, Allouyia and nobilis ; also from Canna glauca, called 
‘«Tous les mois;” and in the East-Indies, from species of Curcuma, as well as from 
Maranta ramosissima, a new species found in Silhet. But it has of late years also been 
prepared of fine quality from J. arundinacea, grown in their gardens by the Horticul- 
tural Society of Calcutta ; and was so, many years ago, by the late Sir W. Ainslie, from 
plants grown in his garden near Madras. It might no doubt be successfully introduced 
into many other parts of India. The leaves of Calathea are employed in making baskets 
in S. America; so the split stems of MJaranta dichotoma, being tough, are employed in 
India in making the so-much-celebrated sital-pati, or Calcutta mats (Fl. Ind. i. p. 2.) 
167. SCITAMINEZ, or ZINGIBERACEZ. 
The Scitaminee, containing such plants as the Ginger, Cardamom, Turmeric, Zedoary, 
and Galangal, with splendid Alpinias and showy Hedychiums, natural as an order, 
beautiful as plants, and important for their uses, are so named from Scitamintum ; but 
are now more frequently denominated Zingiberacee. They have been separated from 
Marantacee, but participate in all the affinities of that order ; like them, they are found 
in tropical parts of the world, but more abundantly in India. A few species of Amomum 
occur on the west coast of Africa, and in Madagascar, also in the West-Indies and 
S. America, with Alpinia and Costus in both the latter. An Hellenia occurs in New 
Holland; and with Alpinia, inChina. Globba and Zingiber extend as far north as 
Japan ; 
