562 PART III. THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



this type in that the odd sepal is posterior, and the abortive 

 posterior stamen belongs to the outer whorl. Seeds, one (Heli- 

 conia), or many, in each loculns, withoat endosperm. Thej are 

 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. 



3Iusa paradisiaca (Plantain), 31. Sapientum (Banana), and M. Ensete are 

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

 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 Eavenala, Strelitzia 

 Heliconia. 



J 9 e 3 



FiG. 366.— Diagram of flower of Musa. Fig. 367.— Diagrams of the two types of flower in 



tLe Zingiberaceae. A Hedychium. B Alpinia. 



Order 2. Zingiberace^. \ K3, CS, ^ f 2 or + 1 f 2, (?^,. 

 Flower dorsiventral : calyx sometimes petaloid. Of the inner 

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

 other two being transformed into a usually petaloid body, the 

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

 indicated, in the Zingibereee (Fig. 367 B); but is represented in 

 the Hedychieae and Globbeae by two postero-lateral petaloid 

 staminodes (Fig. 367 A). There is a small amount of endosperm 

 in the seed, in a depression in the perisperm. 



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

 having a unilocular ovary with three parietal placentae. 



The starch wliich is prepared from the rhizome of Curcuma angustifoUa and 

 leucorrhiza is known in commerce as East Indian arrowroot : Turmeric is 

 obtained from the rhizome of C. longa. Cardamoms are the fruits of Eletteria 

 Gardamomum. The dried rhizomes of Zingiber officinale are the common 

 ginger. 



Order 3. Marantacej; or Cannace.e. iv3, C3, J.0 + 1 f Ij 0, or 

 ^ t 2, + 1 t 2, (t ^. Flower asymmetric: calyx not petaloid. 

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

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



