234 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



SCITAMINE^. 

 Named by J. G. Baker. 



^laranta arundioacea, L., Sp. PL, 2. 



Caballero (401); Pilcomayo River (1553). January. 



The well-known Arrowroot, a reed-like plant growing in damp 

 or marshy open woods. Stems very smooth and glabrous, with 

 long internodes, widely and dichotomously branching, 5-8 dm. high. 

 Leaves lanceolate, rounded or slightly cordate at base, acute at apex, 

 the largest collected 3J dm. long and T cm. broad, on sheathing 

 petioles as long as the blade. Inflorescence much forked. Perianth 

 with 3 green separate calyx-like outer segments, enclosing a bluish 

 corolla. Capsule about 1 cm. long, crowned with the persistent 

 calyx and without corolla. The flowers easily drop off, and it is 

 hard to preserve them. The root out of which the farinaceous 

 substance known as Arrowroot is made is a large, hard, somewhat 

 tuberous rhizome. It is not common enough in Paraguay to be of 

 much service to the people. 



Tlialia geniculata, L., Sp. PL, 1193. 



Asuncion (555). February. 



Stems reed-like, very smooth and glaucous, about 3 m. high. 

 Leaves solitary or few, 3-5 dm. long, on long, sheathing petioles. 

 Flowers in long, lax, terminal panicles, a pair enclosed in a 2-valved 

 spathe 15-lY mm. long; inner segments of the corolla 1 white and 

 membranous and longer, and the other 2 red, the 3 outer red; sepals 

 minute, membranous, very light purple, striped. 



Canna glaiica, L., Sp. PL, 1. 



Asuncion (3'r8); Pilcomayo River (84*7 and 1554). December- 

 May. 



No. 318 has deep red flowers, and 847 and 1554 yellow flowers, 

 as we find them in our flower-gardens. The two are considered as 

 belonging to the same species, but as I found them growing wild in 

 Paraguay, I was led to question whether they are identical. They 

 occur in different localities, never in the same clump. The red- 

 flowered form usually has smaller flowers, the corolla rarely exceed- 

 ing 6 cm. in length, while those of the other are sometimes 10 cm. 

 long ; the petals too, as a general rule, are narrower and the floral 

 bracts larger than in the yellow-flowered form. I found the floral 



