62 



FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 



mental foliage plants. Strelitzia^ another genus of tWs family, is 

 known as the Bird-of-Paradise plant, from the peculiar coloring of its 

 flowers and floral bracts. 



Family Zingiberaceae. Ginger Family. About 40 genera and 



Fig. 52.— Branch, flower and rootstock of West Indian arrowroot {Mar- 

 anta arundinacea) . Original. 



450 species, all tropical, and particularly numerous in the forests of 

 southern Asia. The flowers contain but one fertile stamen; the other 

 two are united into a petaloid and often highly colored leaf, the Lip or 

 labellum. The fruit is usually a three- valved capsule. Several species 



