MARANTA ARUNDINACEA. 53 
A bland nutritious aliment may be prepared from this article by boiling the powder in water or milk, useful in 
chronic dysentery. Salep is used by the Turks in the same way that arrow root is in the West Indies. 
When the doctrine of signatures prevailed, Salep was regarded as powerfully aphrodisiacal. 
Piate XCVI.—Represents the plant in flower, with the tubers and the organs of reproduction. 
MARANTACEA, 
LINDLEY. 
MARANTS. 
Cannz.—Jussieu. R. Brown. 
EssenTiaL Cuar.—Calyz superior, of three sepals, short. Corolla tubular, irregular, with segments in two 
whorls, the outer three-parted, nearly equal; the inner very irregular; one of the lateral segments usually coloured, 
and formed differently from the rest; sometimes by abortion, fewer than three. Stamens three, petaloid, distinct, of 
which one of the laterals and the intermediate one are either barren or abortive, and the other lateral one fertile. 
Filament petaloid, either entire or two-lobed, one of the lobes bearing the anther on its edge. Anther one-celled, open- 
ing longitudinally. Pollen round. Ovary one to three-celled. Ovules solitary, erect, and campylotropal ; or numerous, 
anatropal, and attached to the axis of each cell. Style petaloid, or swollen. Stigma either the mere denuded apex of 
the style, or hollow, cucullate and incurved. Fruit capsular. Seeds round, without axil. Albumen hard, somewhat 
flowery. Embryo straight, naked, its radicle lying against the hylum. (Lindley.) Herbaceous tropical plants, rhizome » 
tuberous, abounding in starch, stem often branching. 
MARANTA ARUNDINACEA. 
LINNAUS. 
ARROW ROOT. 
Sex. Syst.—Monandria, Monogynia. 
Gen. Cuar.—Corolla unequal, one of the inner segments in the form of a lip. Stamens petaloid, one with half 
an anther on its edge. Style hooded, adhering to the edge of a sterile filament. Ovary three-celled, smooth. Ovules 
solitary. Fruit even, dry, one-seeded. Caulescent plants with fleshy rhizomata or tubers. Stems branched, often 
dichotomous. Inflorescence terminal, panicled, jointed, with glumaceous deciduous bracts. (Lindley.) 
Srecir. Cuar.—Root perennial, fibrous, producing numerous fusiform, fleshy, scaly, pendulous tubers from its » 
crown. Stem two to three feet high, much branched, slender, finely hairy, turned at the joints. Leaves alternate, 
with long, leafy, hairy sheaths, ovate, lanceolate, slightly hairy underneath, pale-green on both sides. Panicles termi- — 
nal, lax, spreading, with long, linear, sheathing bracts at the ramifications. Ovary hairy. Calyx green, smooth. 
Corolla white, small. Fruit nearly globular, with three obsolete angles, the size of a small currant. (Lindley. ) 
This plant is a native of the West India islands, where it is generally cultivated. It has been introduced and 
cultivated in Florida, and we have seen fine tubers produced in South Carolina. It affords the arrow root of com- | 
merce. 
To obtain the fecula, the roots are dug up when a year old ; after being cleansed completely, they oe 
@ pulp, which is thrown into pure water and agitated soas to separate the fecula from the fibrous portion. eae rm 
are removed, and the fecula remains suspended in the water. This is then strained, and allowed to stand un 
fecula has subsided, which, after being washed, is dried in the sun. ee 
The best arrow root is known in commerce as Bermuda. It is in the form of light white powder, or small pul- 
Yerulent masses, without smell or taste. It is pure fecula, consisting of minute ovoid grains. It absorbs moisture 
VOL. II. . 14 
