668 



A trailing plant growing upright at first to a height of about 

 6 ft,, in wet and shady places, Angola (Monteiro, I.e.); growing 

 5 ft. in swampy ravines^ Nupe (Barter, I.e.). 



^ 



\ 



Maranta. Plum. 



Maranta amndinacea, Linn. Sp, PI. (1753), p. 2. 



A herbaceous perennial, 2-3 ft. high, rootstock creeping, 

 developing fleshy rhizomes or tuberous roots from which the 



starch is obtained and the plant propagated. Leaves with long 

 hairy sheaths more or less enveloping the stem, entire, glabrous. 

 on both surfaces or sHghtly hairy underneath, pale green. 

 Inflorescence a terminal lax panicle, small, calyx green, corolla 

 white.' Fruit small, round; never relied upon to produce seed 

 under cultivation. 



/?L— Redoute, Choix FL i. t. 57; Tussac, Fl, Ant. i. t. 26 

 {M.indica); Bot. Mag. t. 2307; Hayne, Darst. Beschr. Gewachse. 

 ix. t. 25 t. 26 {31, indica)\ Boscoe, Scitamineae, t. 25; Guimpel^ 

 Abbild. Beschr. t. 106; Nees von Esenbeck, Plant. Medic. 

 Diisseld. tt. 69, 70; Wallich, ' PI. Asiat, Rar. iii. t. 286 {M. 

 ramosissima) ; Gard. Chron. June 27th, 1846, p. 428, f. 4 ; 

 Bentl. & Trimen, Med. PI. t. 265; Zippel, Ai.sl. Handels^ 

 Nahrpfl. t. 52; Safford, Useful" PL Guam;' Contr. U.S. Nat. 

 Herb. ix. 1905, t. 25 (rhizome, leaf & fl.); Karst. & Scheiick^ 

 Veg. bild. viii. t. 44 (growing plant). 



Arrowroot, Indian Arrowroot, St. Vincent Arrowroot, Ber- 

 muda Arrowroot, West Indian Arrowroot. 



A native of Tropical America and the West Indies; cul- 

 tivated in India and Tropical Africa. 



The starch or flour obtained from the rhizomes — containing 

 about 27 per cent, {see Kew Bull. 1893, p. 197) is an important 

 and well-known food product. The important commercial 

 sources are Bermuda, St. Vincent and India: that from the West 

 Indies amounting in 1914 to 36,870 cwt., value £59,631, and 

 in 1918, 37,351 cwt., value £250,285 (Trade of the United 

 Kingdom, i. 1919, p. 101). 



The plant is a perennial, grows about 2 ft. high and comes to 

 maturity in from 9-10 months — sometimes a year; planted in 

 January (1898) the crop was ready for digging in November at 

 Old Calabar. Selected rhizomes are planted in rows about 

 2 ft. apart ; 1-li ft. apart in the rows and 3-4 in. below the surface, 

 they are earthed up like potatoes and the crop is ready to harvest 

 when the leaves begin to die down. Rich hght, well-drained 

 soil is essential, also a good rainfall (or thorough irrigation) 

 during growth. A good supply of water is also indispensable in 

 the preparation of the starch, which is extracted as soon as 

 possible after the roots are dug up. The rhizomes are washed 

 and scraped, then grated and the fibrous matter taken out by 

 repeated washing in water, this usually rising to the surface 

 and hfted or poured off with the water after the starch has settled. 



