520 MUSACEJE IRIDACE-E. 



while the verticil, sometimes called petals, is really metamorphosed 

 stamens, and hence its irregular aspect. 



1063. Order 188. Musacete, the Banana Family. (Mono-epigyn.') 

 Perianth 6 -cleft, adherent, petaloid, in 2 whorls, more or less irregular. 

 Stamens 6, inserted on the middle of the segments of the perianth, 

 some usually abortive ; anthers linear, dithecal, introrse, often with a 

 membranous petaloid crest. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; ovules numer- 

 ous, anatropal ; style simple ; stigma usually 3-lobed. Fruit either a 

 3-celled capsule, with loculicidal dehiscence, or succulent and indehis- 

 cent. Seeds sometimes surrounded by hairs ; testa usually crusta- 

 ceous ; embryo erect, in the axis of mealy albumen ; radicle touching 

 the hilum. Plants without true aerial stems, or nearly so, having 

 shoots proceeding from subterranean root-stocks, which form spurious 

 stems, composed of the sheathing leaf-stalks. Veins in the limb of the 

 leaf parallel, and proceeding in a curved manner from the midrib to 

 the margin (fig. 135). Flowers bursting through spathas. Natives 

 of warm and tropical regions. There are 5 known genera, and 21 

 species. Examples Musa, Strelitzia, Ravenala. 



1064. The plants of this order furnish a large supply of nutritious 

 fruit, and their leaves afford valuable fibres. Spiral vessels abound in 

 them. Musa sapientum and Cavendishii furnish different kinds of 

 Banana, while M. paradisiaca yields the Plantain. These fruits in 

 their ripe state contain much starchy matter. From their spurious 

 stems, the fibres of the spiral vessels may be pulled out in such quantity 

 as to be used for tinder. The ribbon-like fibre in these vessels is 

 composed of several threads united together (pleiotrachese) (fig. 51). 

 The produce of the Banana is of great value to the inhabitants of 

 warm countries. The same extent of ground which in wheat would 

 only maintain two persons, will yield sustenance tinder the Banana 

 to fifty. Musa lextilis yields a kind of woody fibre, which is used in 

 India in the manufacture of fine muslins. Manilla Hemp is the pro- 

 duce of Musa textilis. The woody tissue of many species of Musa is 

 used for manufacture in warm climates. The young shoots of the 

 Banana are used as a culinary vegetable. Urania speciosa or Ravenala 

 is the Water-tree of the Dutch, so called on account of the great quantity 

 of water which flows from its stem or leaf-stalk when cut across. 



1065. Order 189. irldaceze, the Iris Family. (Mono-epigyn.) 

 Perianth adherent, 6-parted, coloured, in 2, often unequal whorls 

 (figs. 745, 746). Stamens 3, epigynous, opposite the outer segments 

 of the perianth (figs. 745, 746 ee); filaments distinct or monadelphous ; 

 anthers 2-celled, extrorse. Ovary inferior (fig. 746 o), 3-celled ; ovules 

 numerous (fig. 746 #), anatropal ; style 1 ; stigmas 3, often petaloid 

 (fig. 746 s), sometimes bilabiate. Fruit a 3-celled, 3-valved capsule, 

 with loculicidal dehiscence (fig. 448). Seeds numerous ; embryo en- 

 closed in horny or fleshy albumen ; radicle next the hilum (fig. 747). 



