MARANTA TONCHAT. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
SECT. I. CANN. 
Guy. Cuar.—Anther single, attached to the margin of the petal-like filament; style tubular, revolute; stigma 
trilobate; capsule ovate, one-celled; seed single, triangular, rugose. 
Srec. Cuar.—Stems fruticose, jointed, erect, compressed ; branches dichotomous, hirsute; leaves ovate-lanceolate, on ; 
short, ganglionated petioles, smooth on both sides, inzequilateral ; capsule ovate ; seed single. 
Syy.—Maranta Tonchat. Aubl. Guian. v. i. p- 3. 
Maranta Tonchat. Willd. i. 13. 
Maranta Tonchat. Roemer & Schul. i. 14. Ap. 557. 
Maranta Tonchat. Sprengel, i. 8. 
Maranta angustifolia. Bot. Mag. 2398. ?. : 
DESCRIPTION. 
Roots perennial, ligneous, creeping; stem fruticose, simple, erect, smooth, of a highly polished dark green ; 
branches numerous, dichotomous, spreading, jointed at every division, hairy; leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate, 4—6 
inches long, inzequilateral, on a short, ganglionated, hairy petiole ; spike terminal, flexuose, 4—6 flowers; common 
bracte concave, pale green, smooth; inner bracte lanceolate, membranous ; flowers in pairs; calyx superior, of three 
leaves, green, persistent; corolla tubular; cuter limb in three equal, ovate segments; inner limb in three segments, 
pale blue, or lilac colour; two of the segments erect, equal; the third section, or lip, somewhat larger, undulate, 
depressed ; anther attached to the margin of the filament; style tubular, revolute; stigma perforate, with a trilobate 
margin ; capsule ovate, 1-celled, 1-valved ; seed single, triangular, rugose. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Few plants have given rise to greater errors than the present. These have principally arisen from almost all 
systematic writers having mistaken this plant for the Tonchat scytam of Rumph. Amb. iv. 22. t. 7; the Donawx 
arundastrum of Loureiro, Cochin Chi. 15; the Phrynium dichotomum of Roxb. Flor. Ind. i. p. 2; a plant essentially 
and generically different, as may appear by comparing the ample description of the last mentioned writer, with that 
now given; from which we shall find, that besides several diversities in the form and colour of the corolla, the 
capsule in the East Indian plant is broad, turbinate, the size of a cherry, rugose, somewhat three-lobed, three-celled, 
three-valved ; thereby conforming to the other species of Phrynium described in that work, but totally at variance 
with the plant of Aublet. The difference between these plants was long ago observed by Ventenat, as cited in Rees’ 
Cyclop. by Sir J. E. Smith, who has remarked, that the M. Tonchat of Aublet may be merely a variety of the first 
(or Eastern) species, but that there was then no means of determining it. This difficulty is, however, now removed, 
and the Phrynium dichotomum, (to which all the Eastern synonyms apply,) and the Maranta Tonchat, must henceforth 
be considered as species of different genera of plants; of one of which genera, (Maranta,) it appears from the 
Flora Indica of Dr. Roxburgh, the East does not furnish a single specimen. 
We learn from Aublet, vol. i. p. 3, that the Maranta Tonchat grows in Cayenne and Guiana, where it is used 
in making baskets and pagaras, or small hampers for household use. 
The plant from which the present drawing is made, was sent by the late Hon. Charles Greville, in the year | 
1807, to the Botanic Garden in Liverpool; from which time it has annually flowered, and ripened its seeds there. 
From a dried specimen of the Phrynium dichotomum, sent by Dr. Carey of Serampore, to Mr. H. Shepherd, 
at the Botanic Garden, Liverpool, it appears that the flowers are more than double the size of those of the 
Maranta Tonchat. 
REFERENCES. 
1. Germen and calyx. 
2. Filament, anther, style and stigma. 
3. Panicle and capsules. 
4. Seed. 
