760 III. ZINGIBERACE^. 



Cannaceee, properly so called, are chiefly natives of tropical aud sub-tropical America, where they 

 replace Zinyiberacea, aud whence they have spread throughout the hot parts of the Old World. 



Cannaccffi have in contrast with Zinyibcracete no aromatic principles, but their rhizome abounds with 

 a nutritious starch. That of Maraiita anmdinacea (Arrowroot), cultivated in the West Indies, is 

 recommended for its digestibility. Its uncooked rhizome is acrid, rubefacient, salivatory, and is con- 

 sidered an antidote to the poison from the juice of the Manchiueel, when applied to the wounded 

 surface. The leaves of M. lutea are covered on their under face with a resinous excretion, supposed to 

 be efficacious in dysuria. The tubers of M. Allouya, cooked aud seasoned with pepper, are eaten in 

 the Antilles. The root of Canna is reputed to be diuretic and diaphoretic. The seeds of several species 

 are considered substitutes for coffee; and yield a purple dye. 



III. ZINGIBERACE^. 



, L.-C. Richard. SCITAMINE^E, Dr. AMOME^E, Jussieu. 

 ALPINIACE^;, Link.} 



FLOWERS 5 . PEBIANTH and STAMINODES as in Cannaceae. STAMEN solitary, 

 anterior ; ANTHER 2-celled. OVARY inferior, usually '3-celled ; OVULES anatropous. 

 FRUIT usually a capsule. SEEDS with 2 albumens, a farinaceous and a horny (vitellus). 

 EMBRYO with the cotyledonary end sheathed by the vitellus, the radicular free and 

 touching the hilum. HEEBS, with creeping or tuberous rhizome. LEAVES as in 

 Caimacese. 



Perennial UERBS with a creeping or tuberous rhizome, rarely with fibrous roots, 

 stemless, or stem simple, enveloped by the leaf-sheaths. LEAVES all radical, or 

 alternate, simple ; petiole forming a split (very rarely closed) sheath, sometimes ligu- 

 late ; limb flat, entire ; midrib thick, giving off laterally numerous secondary simple 

 parallel oblique or transverse nerves. FLOWERS $ , irregular, naked or bracteolate, 

 spiked, raceined or panic-led, radical or terminal, often accompanied by spathaceous 

 bracts. PERIANTH double, superior; outer (calyx) coloured or herbaceous, tubular, 

 entire or split like a spathe, 3-toothed or -fid ; inner (corolla) with a long or short 

 tube, 3-partite, divisions more or less unequal, the upper usually largest, cucullate ; 

 staminodes petaloid, dissimilar, forming a 2-lipped tube adnate to the corolla-tube, 

 lower lip the largest. STAMEN solitary, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube ; 

 jilament free, usually dilated and petaloid, often prolonged beyond the anther; anther 

 erect or incumbent, introrse ; cells distant, marginal. OVARY inferior, 3- (rarely 1-2-) 

 celled, often surmounted by 1 or more staminodes ; ovules 1 or more in each cell, 

 2-several-seriate, inserted at the central angle of the cells, horizontal, anatropous. 

 FRUIT crowned by the remains of the perianth, usually a loculicidally 3-valved 

 capsule, rarely irregularly ruptured or dehiscing by longitudinal slits. SEEDS 

 usually numerous, sub-spherical or angular, arillate or not, testa cartilaginous ; 

 albumen farinaceous, absent near the hilum, interposed between the seed-coats and 

 a second horny albumen (vitellus), which is closed at the top opposite to the hilum, 

 and perforated at the base to allow of the passage of the radicle. EMBRYO 

 straight, sub-cylindric, axile, capped at the cotyledonary end by tbe vitellus ; radicle 



