SCITAMINE^E 567 



absorbent organs corresponding to the scutellum of Grass 

 seeds and the ' suckers ' of Palm seeds are present in all the 

 tribes of ScitamineaB. In Elettaria speciosa, the stopper in 

 the ripe seed is only united to the testa by a delicate liga- 

 ment. The embryo consists of an elongated club-shaped sucker 

 surrounded by the endosperm, and connected by a narrow 

 neck with the embryo proper, which resembles a broad cone 

 with a flat base, and includes a radicle and plumule. The 

 portion of the testa opposite the radicle consists of a lid-like 

 stopper, a structure which Tschirch found general in the Order. 

 The sucker shows no differentiation, and remains in the seed 

 in germination while the neck portion elongates, causing the 

 stopper to be pushed out and the embryo to emerge. The 

 radicle bends downwards and the plumule sheathed by a horn- 

 shaped leaf, the coleoptile or cotyledon, upwards. The young 

 seedling remains united with the internal sucker by a long 

 filiform appendage from the base of the sheath-like cotyledon, 

 the elongated neck of the embryo. This connection is kept 

 up till all the reserve-material is consumed. Other species of 

 Elettaria, e.g. E. Cardamomum as well as the genera Amomum, 

 Alpinia and others, behave quite similarly, the differences 

 lying in the form of the endosperm, the shape of the stopper 

 and the sucker. In Alpinia nutans the latter is bilobed, 

 grasping with one of the lobes a section of the sickle-shaped 

 endosperm, while in Amomum dealbatum the similarly shaped 

 endosperm is penetrated by a wedge-like sucker. Germination 

 is analogous throughout. 



TRIBE II. MAKANTE^E. 



The fruit is three-celled, with one seed in each cell as in 

 Phrynium, Calathea and others, or one-celled with one seed 

 as in Maranta, Thalia, &c. Sometimes it is indehiscent, 

 sometimes bursts in irregular pieces, but usually shows a 

 valvular dehiscence, which is loculicidal in the three-seeded 

 capsules. Where the fruit is one-seeded it may separate into 

 three equal valves, or one valve may be small compared with 

 the other two, sometimes linear. In Maranta and Stromanthe 

 the valves are about equal in breadth but only one becomes 

 separated, the other two remaining almost or quite coherent. 



