MARANTACE.S. 



1205. C. edulis Ker. in Bot. Reg. ix. 775. Peru, where it is 

 called Achiras. 



Tubers thick, fleshy, with oblong cylindrical fangs. Stems deep red, 

 5-6 feet high. Leaves ovate and oblong, tapering to each end, smooth, 

 a deep glaucous green with a purplish edge. Raceme compact, few 

 flowered. Bracts obovate, obtuse, pink-coloured, about as long as the 

 ovary. Sepals ovate, pink. Corolla with the outer segments linear- 

 lanceolate, erect ; 2 of the inner narrow oblong emarginate crimson 

 erect, and the other yellowish revolute and notched at the point. 

 The fleshy tubers are eaten in Peru as Potatoes, and contain a large 

 quantity of starch resembling Arrow root. 



1206. The faecula of another Canna, called C. coccinea, has 

 been advertised for sale under the name of" tous les mois" as 

 an excellent sort of Arrow root. (See Morning Chronicle, 

 Aug. 4s 1837.) It is however very doubtful whether it is really 

 produced by the Canna coccinea of Botanists. 



570 



