CLASSIFICATION OF THE MONOCOTYLEDONS. 163 



leaves, and clusters of scarlet, orange, or yellow flowers. The 

 leafy stems arise from thick tubers or root stocks, and grow 

 rapidly to a height of two metres or more in the larger species. 

 The leaves, as in all the order, are very large, and have a thick 

 midrib with lateral veins running to the margin. The young 

 leaves are folded up like a trumpet. The flowers are irregular 

 in form, and in Canna only a single stamen is found ; or if more 

 are present, they are reduced to petal-like rudiments. The 

 single, perfect stamen (Fig. 88, C, an.) has the filament broad 

 and colored like the petals, and the anther attached to one side. 

 The pistil (gy,) is also petal-like. There are three circles of 

 leaves forming the perigone, the two outer being more or less 

 membranaceous, and only the three inner petal-like in texture. 

 The ovary (o) is inferior, and covered on the outside with 

 little papillae that afterward form short spines on the outside 

 of the fruit (F). 



The seeds are large, but the embryo is very small. A sec- 

 tion of a nearly ripe seed shows the embryo (em.) occupying 

 the upper part of the embryo sac which does not nearly fill 

 the seed and contains no endosperm. The bulk of the seed is 

 derived from the tissue of the body of the ovule, which in most 

 seeds becomes entirely obliterated by the growth of the embryo 

 sac. The cells of this tissue become filled with starch, and 

 serve the same purpose as the endosperm of other seeds. This 

 tissue is called " perisperm." 



Of food plants belonging to this order, the banana (Musa) 

 is much the most important. Others of more or less value are 

 species of arrowroot (Maranta) and ginger (Zingiber). 



There are three families : I. Musacece (banana family) ; 

 II. Zingiberacece (ginger family) ; and III. Cannacece, (Canna, 

 Maranta) . 



ORDER VI. Gynandrce. 



By far the greater number of the plants of this order belong 

 to the orchis family (Orchidece), the second family of the order 



