MARANTACEAE 163 
31. MARANTACEAE (Arrow Root oR AROUROU FAMILY) 
Perennial herbaceous plants from more or less fleshy rootstocks, stem- 
less or with erect, simple or branched stems. Leaves usually large, 
pinnately veined from the midrib, usually distichous, petioled, the petioles 
sheathing the stem below. Flowers very irregular, perfect, often in 
pairs, in dense bracteate spikes or in open, more or less panicled inflores- 
cences. Sepals 3, equal, free. Corolla-tube short or elongated, usually 
slender, 3-lobed, the exterior lobe often large and more or less concave or 
hooded. Staminodes usually 4, the two interior ones always present, one 
cucullate, the other callose, the exterior ones petaloid. Stamen 1, pe- 
taloid, bearing a 1-celled anther. Ovary inferior, 1- to 8-celled; ovules 1 
in each cell; style slender, curved. Fruit capsular, nut-like or berry-like, 
dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds hard, arillate. 
Genera 26, species about 300, in the tropics of both hemispheres, 5 
genera and 8 or 9 species in the Philippines. 
MARANTA Linnaeus 
Erect branched herbs from tuberous rootstocks.. Leaves petioled, ellip- 
soid to ovate, acuminate. Flowers few, in pairs, racemose, sometimes laxly 
and somewhat dichotomously paniculate, the bracts few, usually caducous. 
Sepals 3, narrow. Corolla-tube cylindric, slender, elongated, often swollen 
at the base, the lobes 3, subequal. Staminal-tube commonly short, the two 
exterior staminodes broad, petaloid usually obovate, the others shorter. 
Stamen petaloid, the anther 1-celled, attached to its margin. Fruit obovoid 
or oblong, nut-like, indehiscent. (In honor of B. Maranta, a Venetian 
botanist and physician.) 
Species 14, in tropical America, 1 now more or less cultivated in all 
tropical countries. 
1. M. ARUNDINACEA L. Arourou (Sp.-Fil.); Arrow Root. 
An erect, glabrous, dichotomously branched, perennial herb 0.4 to 1 m 
high, from fleshy, fusiform rootstocks. Leaves ovate-oblong, thin, pe- 
tioled, acuminate, base rounded, 10 to 20 cm long, green. Inflorescence 
terminal, lax, divaricate, few-flowered. Flowers white, 2 cm long. 
Occasional in our area, fl. most of the years cultivated to a small extent 
and occasionally spontaneous in the Philippines. Introduced from tropical 
America at an early date, now found in most tropical countries. 
Var. VARIEGATUM (N. E. Br.) (Phrynium variegatum N. R. Br.). 
Leaves variously marked with white, frequently entire leaves being 
white with little or no green. 
Commonly cultivated in gardens and as a house plant for its orna- 
mental foliage; introduced from Singapore. 
In addition to the above, various species or horticultural forms of the 
American genus Calathea are found in cultivation in Manila. The forms 
here usually have leaves purplish beneath, and variously variegated on 
the upper surface, in one form with narrow, parallel, red lines between 
each two primary nerves. All or most of the forms here appear to be 
referable to Calathea ornata Koernicke (C. sanderiana Hort.). 
