MARANTA GIBBA. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
ee a 
SECT. I. CANNE. 
Gey. Cuar.—Anther single, attached to the margin of the petal-like filament ; style tubular, depressed ; stigma 
perforate ; corolla trifid ; capsule ovate; seed single. 
Spec. Coar.—Root fibrous ; stems shrubby, dichotomous ; leaves alternate, cordate-lanceolate, equilateral, smooth ; 
petioles short, ganglionated, hairy ; seed gibbous. 
Syx.—Maranta gibba. Sir J. E. Smith, in Rees’ New Cyclop. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Roots perennial, creeping, somewhat woody ; stem fruticose, ramose, downy when young; branches dividing 
in pairs, jointed at every division, joints hairy ; leaves alternate, cordate-lanceolate, acute, smooth on both sides ; 
sheaths of the leaves closely embracing the stem, slightly villous ; petioles ganglionated, hairy, very short in the 
upper leaves, but longer below ; panicle terminal ; flowers in pairs; common bractes linear-lanceolate, concave, 
smooth; inner bractes linear concave, membranous ; calyx of three lanceolate segments ; peduncle ganglionated ; 
corolla monopetalous in two limbs; outer limb in three segments, equal, ovate, intire, white; inner limb in three 
sections, unequal ; the upper sections ovate, erect; the lower section or lip slightly bifid, pure white; filament 
petal-like, erect, on a short claw, ovate, hooded ; anther single, attached to the margin of the filament ; style 
tubular, recurved ; stigma ringent ; capsule ovate; seed single, ovate, rugose, gibbous on one side, perforated 
within by a cavity which contains the germ or radicle. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
A native of Barbadoes, and sent by the Earl of Seaforth, when Governor of that Island, to the Botanic 
Garden in Liverpool. Although nearly resembling in appearance the Maranta Arundinacea, or Arrow Root, it does 
not possess any of the nutricious qualities of that useful plant. It is observable, that in the lower flower, the 
anther is usually attached to the left, in the higher to the right hand side of the filament. It may also be 
worthy of remark, that the anther bearing margin is thickened downward to the germen, by a concealed filament, 
which is sometimes detached when it approaches the anther; which may perhaps have given occasion to describe 
it as “ filamentum bifidum, hinc antheriferum, inde stylum filiformen involvens.” Plum. ap. Meyer, Flor. Essequib. 
p- 11. An account of this plant was first given in Rees’s New Cyclopzedia, by Sir J. E. Smith, from the living 
plant in the Botanic Garden at Liverpool, in the year 1808; but we belie 
has yet been published. 
ve this is the only figure of it that 
REFERENCES. 
1. Calyx and peduncle. 
2. Flower and capsules. 
3. Lip of the corolla. 
4. Style and stigma. . 
5 & 6. Anther, and hooded filament. 
7. Capsule open. 
8. Seed. 
