378 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



Affinities, &c. With certain well-marked differences, these plants ap- 

 proach in some degree to the Marantaceee and Zingiberaceae in habit, espe- 

 cially in the character of the foliage, but the Musaceae have 5 or 6 more or 

 less perfect stamens and no staminodes ; from the Amaryllidaceae, which 

 they resemble in the epigynous hexandrous structure, they differ in the 

 irregular flowers, the general habit, and the character of the bracts or 

 spathes. 



Distribution. A small Order, the species of which are generally dif- 

 fused, wild or in culture, in the plains of the tropics and subtropical 

 regions of the globe. 



Qualities and Uses. These plants are most valuable as sources of food and 

 fibrous materials. Musa paradisiaca, the Plantain, and Musa sapientum, 

 the Banana, are plants bearing gigantic leaves on long petioles, the im- 

 bricated sheaths of which form a pseudo-stem many feet high. They 

 produce large clusters of pulpy fruit containing much sugar and starch, 

 which form a very important article of food in the tropics. Several other 

 species of Musa yield similar fruits. The leaves are used for thatching 

 huts, or split up for plaited work of all kinds. The fibre of the petioles 

 is a valuable material, especially that of Musa textilis, which is known as 

 Manilla Hemp. The young shoots are also eaten boiled. Ravenala 

 speciosa has an edible seed ; a quantity of watery juice exudes from its 

 petioles when cut, whence it has been called Arbre du voyageur. Stre- 

 litzia is a genus with very handsome flowers, several species of which, as 

 also of Musa, are often cultivated in stoves. 



AMAETLLIDACE^E. AMAEYLLIDS. 

 Coh. Narcissales, Hook. 



Diagnosis. Chiefly bulbous and scape-bearing herbs, not scurfy or 

 woolly, with linear flat root-leaves, and perfect, regular (or nearly so), 

 6-androus flowers ; perianth petaloid, 6-parted, its tube inseparate from 

 the 3-celled ovary ; the segments of the limb imbricated or valvate in 

 aestivation ; anthers introrse ; fruit a 3-valved, loculicidal capsule or a 

 1-3-seeded berry ; seeds with fleshy or horny perisperm ; radicle turned 

 to the hilum. Illustrative Genera : Tribe 1. AMARYLLEJE. Bulbous 

 plants, without a coronet. Galanthus, L. ; Amaryllis, L. Tribe 2. 

 NARCISSE^E. Bulbous plants, with a coronet in the perianth. Pan- 

 cratium, L. ; Narcissus, L. Tribe 3. ALSTR (EMERIES. Fibrous-rooted; 

 no coronet. Alstrcemeria, L. Tribe 4. AGAVES. Fibrous-rooted ; sepals 

 and petals alike, valvate in aestivation ; no coronet. Agave, L. ; Fourcroya, 

 Vent. 



Affinities, &c. The floral formula may be represented as follows : 

 | P3_j_3 A 3+3 G 3. This epigynous Order contrasts with the hypo- 

 gynous Liliacese ; among its epigynous allies, Iridaceae are distinguished 

 by their 3 stamens and extrorse anthers : its nearest allies are Haeniodo- 

 raceaa and Hypoxidaceae, the characters of which are given elsewhere. 

 The coronet of the Narcissece is sometimes regarded as a circle of abortive 

 stamens, but is more probably an outgrowth from the tube of the 

 perianth. 



