SUPPLEMENT. 



THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 



By Charles Louts Pollard. 



CHAPTER X. 



Order Scitainineae. 



We now reach a group occupying a much higher phme in the 



scale of development than any 

 members of the Liliflorae. The 

 perianth is often most irregular 

 in shape, and the parts show a 

 closer union; often there is a 

 peculiar development of all but 

 one stamen into petaloid bodies 

 known as stariiinodia. The 

 Scitamineae are herbs, though 

 often arborescent in appearance, 

 like the banana; they have usu- 

 ally tuberous rootstocks and 

 large pinnately- veined leaves. 



Family Musaceae. Ba- 

 nana Family. (See Fig. 51.) 

 A family containing four gen- 

 era, and about 70 species, dis- 

 tinguished by having tlowers 

 with five stamens. The genus 

 Musa besides containing the 

 various edible species of banana 

 and plantain, includes one or 

 two, as the African M. Ensefe, 

 which are cultivated as orna- 



Fig. 51.— The banana, Mumi ^ipientinn. (Af- 

 ter Dodge, Kept. No. 9, U. S. Dept. of Agric.) 



