502 PART IV. CLASSIFICATION. 



all shrubs of colossal growth, with enormously long leaves : the 

 flowers are usually arranged in spicate inflorescences in the axils 

 of large and often coloured bracts ; sometimes several flowers 

 spring from the axil of one bract. 



Mima paradisiaca (Plantain), M. Sapientum (Banana), and M. Emete are 

 natives of the tropics of the Old World ; the two former are now distributed 



FIG. 312. -Diagram of flower of Musa. FIG. 313. Diagrams of the two types of flower in 

 the Zingiberaceae. A Hedychium. B Alpinia. 



throughout America and applied to a great variety of purposes ; the fruit, 

 which is of the nature of a berry, is an article of food, and the vascular 

 bundles are used for making textile fabrics. The other genera are 

 Bavenala, Strelitzia, Heliconia. 



Order 2. ZINGIBERACE^E. 4- #3, (73, A t 2 or + 1 f 2, G m . 

 Flower dorsiventral : calyx not always distinct. Of the inner 

 whorl of stamens the posterior alone bears a perfect anther, the 

 other two being transformed into a usually petaloid body, the 

 label lum. The outer whorl of stamens is absent, or but slightly 

 indicated, in the Zingiberese (Fig. 313 B) : but is represented in 

 the Hedychiese and Globbese by" two postero-lateral petaloid 

 staminodes (Fig. 313 A). There is a small amount of endosperm 

 in the seed, in a depression in the perisperrn. 



The commoner genera are Curcuma, Hedychium ; Zingiber, Alpinia ; 

 Globba, having a unilocular ovary with three parietal placentae. 



The starch which is prepared from the rhizome of Curcuma angustifolia 

 and leucorrhlza is known in commerce as East Indian arrowroot ; Turmeric 

 is obtained from the rhizome of C. lonya. Cardamoms are the fruits of 

 Eletteria Cardamomum. The dried rhizomes of Zinyiber qfficiiiale are the 

 common ginger. 



Order 3. MARANTACE.E or CANNACE.E. K3, (73, AO + 1 f 1, 0, or 



A f 2, + 1 f 2, Gp,. Flower asymmetric, often heterochlarnydeous. 

 The androecium is represented by a number of petaloid bodies, of 

 which one only, the posterior stamen of the inner whorl, bears a 

 bilocular anther (Fig. 314 st, an) ; of the staminodia one is larger 

 than the others, and is reflexed, forming a labcllum (Fig. 314 I) j 



