Ch. XIII] 



THE MONOCOTYLEDONS 



537 



of the order have minor uses as food or medicine, the most 

 important being the Yam, so valuable in the tropics for 

 its huge, tuberous, edible 

 roots. Related is the re- 

 markable Testudinaria (Fig. 

 382). 



Series C. The Specialized 

 Monocotyledons. 



In these the flowers, while 

 retaining their conspicuous- 

 ness, become remarkably 

 specialized by the develop- 

 ment of floral tubes, inferior 

 ovaries, reduction of num- 

 ber in some whorls, and 

 irregularity of parts. Some 

 of these features are ob- 

 viously adaptive to the 

 visits of certain kinds of 

 cross-pollinating insects, or 

 to the development of cer- 

 tain forms of fruits in con- 

 nection with dissemination 

 by aid of animals; but 

 others have no traceable 

 connection with function 



i ,i Fig. 382. — Testudinaria elephanti- 



and suggest rather some pes; x ^ 



principle of diversity as It grows in South Africa. In the 



i r i • i . wet season, it spreads a leafy shoot, 



SUCh, Of Which We gain which dies down to the condensed stem 



glimpses in many Other f or the dry season. (From Le Maout 



i ,, i " l i • and Decaisne.) 



places in the plant king- 

 dom. They include two orders of special importance. 



Order 8. Scitaminales: the Bananas and kin. 

 About 1200 species, mostly tropical undergrowth giant herbs. 



