ANGIOSPERM^ 193 



ized by an inferior ovary and strongly zygomorphic 

 flowers, with a reduction in the number of stamens 

 often to a single one. These two orders represent un- 

 doubtedly the highest degree of specialization among 

 the Monocotyledons. 



THE SCITAMTNE^E 



The Scitamineee are, with very few exceptions, tropical 

 plants of very striking and characteristic appearance. 

 They are mostly plants of large size with very large 

 leaves and often showy flowers. Many of them are 

 cultivated for the beauty of their foliage and flowers, 

 like the species and varieties of Canna (Fig. 47, A), 

 while others, like the ginger, and especially the banana 

 and plantain, are important food plants. They usually 

 have a thick underground rhizome from which are sent 

 up the strong shoots, whose large leaves when young 

 are usually rolled up like a cornucopia. Each shoot in 

 most of them terminates in a large inflorescence, and 

 after the fruit is ripe the shoot dies. Occasionally the 

 growth of the stem is not checked by the formation of 

 flowers, and it may assume almost tree-like proportions, 

 as in the curious " traveller's tree," Ravenala. The 

 flowers of some genera, like Canna, are themselves very 

 showy, but quite as often the showy inflorescence owes 

 its attractiveness to the bright-colored bracts in whose 

 axils the inconspicuous flowers are borne. This is well 

 illustrated by the gaudy yellow or scarlet bracts of Heli- 

 conia and the pink or crimson ones of many species of 

 Zingiber. 



Another peculiar order of Monocotyledons confined to 



