168 



MARANTACEiE. 



[Endogens. 



irregular, with the segments in 2 whorls ; 



Order L. MARANTACEiE.— Marants. 



Cann«. Juss. Gen. 62. (1789) in pari.-Cann. RBro^cn Prfr^^-fJ- ^ JTanTr^is^'tSt^a 

 Brown in Flinders, (1814 .-Caniiaceae, Agardh Aph 181. a823) ; Lmh ^""'^.''•,^- //„''• ^^^fsk 

 sect. o/Scitamineae ; EndL Gen. Ixix. ; Lestihoudots m Ann. Sc. 2 ser. 17. 205.; Meisner,p. ^by. 



Diagnosis.— ^momaZ Endogem, with one stamen, half an anther, and no mtellus. 

 Herbaceous tropical plants, destitute of aroma. Rhizome often tuberous, and abounding 

 in starch. Stem often branching. Leaves, inflorescence, and flowers, as mGmgerw^^^^^ 

 lyx superior, of 3 sepals, short. Corolla tubular, '-" ""'' - "^ "" --— "" = '^ 



the outer 3-parted, nearly equal : 

 the unier very u-regular ; one 

 of the lateral segments usually 

 colom-ed, and formed differently 

 from the rest ; sometimes by 

 abortion fewer than 3. Stamens 

 3, petaloid, distinct, of which 

 one of the laterals and the in- 

 termediate one are either barren 

 or abortive, and the other late- 

 ral one fertile. Filament peta- 

 loid, either entire or 2-lobed, one 

 of the lobes bearing the anther 

 on its edge. Anther 1-celled, 

 openmg longitudinally. Pollen 

 round (papillose in Canna coc- 

 cinea, smooth in Calathea zeb- 

 rina.) Ovary 1-3-celled ; o\ailes 

 soUtary, erect, and campylotro- 

 pal, 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, cu- 

 cullate, and mcurved. Fruit 

 capsular, as in Guigerworts. 

 Seeds round, without aril ; albu- 

 men hard, somewhat floury ; 

 embryo straight, naked, its 

 radicle, lymg against the hilum. 



Under Gingerworts, the relations of that Order and the present to 

 other monocotyledonous groups has been noticed. In this place the 

 distinction between the two Orders has to be explained. In true 

 Gingers, as Brown has observed {Pvodr. 305.), the stamen is always 

 placed opposite the labellum or anterior division of the inner series 

 of the corolla, and proceeds from the base of the posterior outer 

 division ; while the sterile stamens, when they exist, are stationed 

 right and left of the labellum. But m Marants the fertile stamen is 

 on one side of the labellum, occupying the place of one of the lateral 

 sterile stamens of Gingerworts. This peculiarity of arrangement indi- 

 cates a higher degi-ee of u-regularity in Marants than m Gingers, which 

 also extends to the other parts of the flower. The suppression of 

 organs takes place in the latter in a s}Tnmetrical manner ; the two 

 posterior di^•isions of the imier series of the perianth, wliich are 

 occasionally absent, corresponding with the abortion of the two ante- 

 rior stamens. In Marants, on the contrary, the suppression of organs 5 

 takes place with so much irregularity, that the relation which the 

 various parts bear to each other is not always apparent : mstead of the 

 central stamen being perfect while the two lateral ones are abortive, 

 as in Gingerworts and most Orchids, or of the central stamen being S^^/u 

 abortive and the two lateral ones perfect, as in some Orchids, it is Fig. CXV. 

 the central and one lateral one that ai-e suppressed in Marants, In 



Fig. CXV. — Calathea -idllosa ; 1. a flower cut open ; 2. a transverse section of the ovary ; 3. a per- 

 pendicular section of itj 4. a section of the seed of Canna , 5. a section of its embryo. 



