MAKANTACEAB 163 



31. MARANTACEAE (Arrow Root or Arourou Family) 



Perennial herbaceous plants from more or less fleshy rootstocks, stem- 

 less, or with erect, simple or branched stems. Leaves usually large, 

 pinnately veined from the midrib, usually distichous, petioled, the petioles 

 sheathing tha. stem below. Flowers very irregular, perfect, often in 

 pairs, in dense bracteate spikes or in open, more or less panicled inflores- 

 cences. Sepals 3, equal, free. Corolla-tube short or elongated, usually 

 slender, 3-lobed, the exterior lobe often large and more or less concave or 

 hooded. Staminodes usually 4, the two interior ones always present, one 

 cucuUate, the other callose, the exterior ones petaloid. Stamen 1, pe- 

 taloid, bearing a 1-celled anther. Ovary inferipr, 1- to 3-celled; ovules 1 

 in each cell; style slender, curved. Fruit capsular, nut-like or berry-like, 

 dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds hard, arillate. 



Genera 26, species about 300, in the tropics of both hemispheres, 5 

 genera and 8 or 9 species in the Philippines. 



MARANTA Linnaeus 



Erect branched herbs from tuberous rootstocks. Leaves petioled, ellip- 

 soid to ovate, acuminate. Flowers few, in pairs, racemose, sometimes laxly 

 and somewhat dichotomously paniculate, the bracts few, usually caducous. 

 Sepals 3, narrow. Corolla-tube cylindric, slender, elongated, often swollen 

 at the base, the lobes 3, subequal. Staminal-tube commonly short, the two 

 exterior staminodes broad, petaloid usually obovate, the others shorter. 

 Stamen petaloid, the anther 1-celled, attached to its margin. Fruit obovoid 

 or oblong, nut-like, indehiscent. (In honor of B. Maranta, a Venetian 

 botanist and physician.) 



Species 14, in tropical America, 1 now more or less cultivated in all 

 tropical countries. 



I, M. ARUNDINACEA L. Arourou (Sp-^Fil.) ; Arrow Root. 



An erect, glabrous, dichotomously branched, perennial herb 0.4 to 1 m 

 high, from fleshy, fusiform rootstocks. Leaves ovate-oblong, thin, pe- 

 tioled, acuminate, base rounded, 10 to 20 cm long, green. Inflorescence 

 terminal, lax, divaricate, few-flowered. Flowers white, 2 cm long. 



Occasional in our area, fl. most of the year; cultivated to a small extent 

 and occasionally spontaneous in the Philippines'. Introduced from tropical 

 America at an early date, now found in most tropical countries. 

 Var. VAEIEGATUM (N. E. Br.) (Phrynium variegatum N. R. Br.). 



Leaves variously marked with white, frequently entire leaves being 

 white with little or no green. 



Commonly cultivated in gardens and as a house plant for its orna- 

 mental foliage; introduced from Singapore. 



In addition to the above, various species or horticultural forms of the 

 American genus Calathea are found in cultivation in Manila. The forms 

 here usually have, leaves purplish beneath, and variously variegated on 

 the upper surface, in one form with narrow,^ parallel, red lines between 

 each two primary nerves All or most of the forms here appear to be 

 referable to Calathea ornata Koemicke (C sanderia/na Hart.). 



