THE MONOCOTYLEDOXES 1985 



Fig. 1916. — St relit sia reginae. Two inflorescences showing 

 flowers emerging from the leafy spathe. 



Hutchinson, in his Zingiberales, separates the Musaceae from the 

 Strehtziaceae on the character of the fruit and the arrangement of leaves 

 and bracts. He also includes in this order the Zingiberaceae, Cannaceae 

 and the Marantaceae so that in general terms the Zingiberales are approxi- 

 mately equivalent to the Scitamineae. 



The Zingiberaceae are perennial herbs growing from underground 

 rhizomes, the form of which varies in the different genera. The leaves are 

 simple, consisting of a sheath, petiole and blade with ligular outgrowths of 

 the sheath. The inflorescence may be simple or compound and the flowers 

 are hermaphrodite and medianly zygomorphic. The perianth consists of 

 two trimerous whorls which are usually interpreted as calyx and corolla. 

 The median posterior stamen of the inner whorl alone is fertile, often with a 

 broad connective. Lateral stamens of the same whorl often unite to form 

 a conspicuous petaloid labellum. Two of the stamens of the outer whorl 

 are sometimes represented as staminodes. The ovary is inferior and trilocular, 

 with axile placentation. The style is slender and lies in a channel in the 

 fertile stamen. The seeds are numerous and generally bear an aril. There is 

 a large development of mealy perisperm with a small straight embryo. 



The family contains about 800 species distributed among forty-five 

 genera. They are found in the tropics, especially in Asia. In Zingiber the 

 labellum is large and opposite it are the style and the fertile stamen. Z. 

 ojficinale (Fig. 19 17) is the Ginger plant, which is always propagated by 

 vegetative methods and like the cultivated Banana is completely sterile. 

 The Ginger of commerce is derived from the rhizome. Globba is an Indo- 

 Malayan genus of about eighty species in which there is a short calyx below 

 the corolla tube, from the top of which spring three petals, a large labellum, 

 two staminodes and a slightly petaloid fertile stamen, projecting beyond 

 which is the style. The ovary is unilocular with parietal placentation. The 



