^ HORTUS JAMAlCENSia ARKOW-root 



Leaves lanceolate orate. 

 It grows near Biack-lliver bridge, going to 01d-H;ul)0ur, and in many other places. 

 It is tliougiit to have tiie same qualities with land plantain, the seed to be astringent, 

 and tlae leaves good against burns, and to be applied to hydropic legs. The juice ap- 

 plied to i)reasts is a great secret in clearing tiiem of milk. Sloane. 



Great quantities of this plant grow near the Ferry-Tavern, on the i*oad between 

 Kingston and Sp,iiiish-Town, wiierc the stem grows very luxuriantly, and rises fre- 

 q'aently to the height of two or three feet above the foliage. The branches of the low- 

 er verticiilre seiJotu exceed three in number, and are generally sub-divided in the same 

 manner themselves ; but those of the higher orders consist of chiefly five long siuqjle 

 flovver-staiks, and those about the top of three only. The flowers that grow about the 

 cxtreniilies of the stem and i)ranches are generally male, and adorned with a great ma- 

 ny filaments, which are always observed to stand on longer footstalks than tlie icniale 

 flowers, which commonly occupy the lovvci part of the main as well as of the luteritl 

 flower-spikes. Both the stalk and branches are smootii and roundLsh. Browne. 



ARRO W-RO OT. M AR ANTA . 



Ci.. 1, OR. 1. Monandria monogynia. Nat. ok. Scilamimtr, 



The generic name was given by Plumier, in honour of Bartolommco Maranta, vAlO 

 Tvrote three books on simj^le medicines, and was esteemed a man of considerable geni- 

 us, who died in 1.).3 1-. 



Gf.n. ciiAPi. Calvx a r.mall, three-leaved, lanceolate, pcrianthiun; ; corolla or.e- 

 petaliccl, rlngent, with an oijlong compressed tube, bent in, border six- cleft, al- 

 ternate outer segments ovate, equal, smaller, two alternate lateral very large and 

 roundish, representing tjie lower lip ; iippermost stnall,- two-parted ; the stamen 

 a mcriibranaceous filament, resembling a segment of the corolla, with a htvear an- 

 ther fastened to its edge ; the pistillum a rountiish germcn, inferior ; style siniple, 

 the length of the corolla ; stigma obsolctely three-cornered, bent in ; j)eri(uijji- 

 um roundish, obscurely three-sided, three-ceiled, three- valved; seed single, - 

 vatc, wrinkled, and hard. Five or six species have been reierred to this gcims, 

 init all ilouhtiul, (some of them indeed now diliorently classed), except the Indiau 

 arrow-root, or 



_ ... AUUNDINACEA. 



Camui Indicamdice alba lile.fipharmaca. Sloane, v. 1, p. 253, t*149./ 

 f. 2. Fidiis ianccoluto cvatis, peliolis superne gangUonosis JnictK, 

 glabra. Browne, p. Ii2. 



Culm brandied, -Jierbaceous, leaves ovate-lanceolate, somewliat hairy below. 



This plant has thick, knottv, creeping, perennial roots, Imving annular protuberan- 

 ces or rings, crowned with long, broad, arundinaceous, le'aves, ending iii points, and 

 upright stalks, terminated by bimches of white fl.iwers Tiic plant is propagated by 

 cuttings <jf the roots, which spring at the joints, and in about twelve, monviis is fit t j 

 be dug. It is very generally cultivated in Jamaica, where it was intrcuuccd from ti;o 

 island of Earbadoes. 



Ti;is 



