PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SUBTERRANEAN PARTS. 81 



in the Asiatic Archipelago), and others less numerous 

 growing in America and in Africa, have been introduced 

 into cultivation as alimentary plants, probably more 

 recently than many other species. This last conjecture is 

 based on the absence of a Sanskrit name, on the limited 

 geographical range of cultivation, and on the date, which 

 appears to be not very ancient, of the inhabitants of the 

 Pacific Isles. 



Arrowroot — Maranta arundinacea, Linnseus. A 

 plant of the family of the Sdtaminece, allied to the genus 

 Canna, of which the underground suckers ^ produce the 

 excellent fecula called arrowroot. It is cultivated in the 

 West India Islands and in several tropical countries of 

 continental America. It has also been introduced into 

 the old world — on the coast of Guinea, for instance.^ 



Maranta arundinacea is certainly American. Ac- 

 cording to Sloane,^ it was brought from Dominica to 

 Barbados, and thence to Jamaica, which leads us to 

 suppose that it was not indigenous in the West Indies. 

 Komicke, the last author who studied the genus Ma- 

 ranta,* saw several specimens which were gathered in 

 Guadaloupe, in St. Thomas, in Mexico, in Central 

 America, in Guiana, and in Brazil ; but he did not con- 

 cern himself to discover whether they were taken from 

 wild, cultivated, or naturalized plants. Collectors hardly 

 ever indicate this ; and for the study of the American 

 continent (excepting the United States) we are unpro- 

 vided with local floras, and especially with floras made 

 by botanists residing in the country. In published 

 works I fin d the species mentioned as cultivated* or 

 growing in plantations,* or without any explanation. A 

 locality in Brazil, in the thinly peopled province of 

 Matto Grosso, mentioned by Komicke, supposes an 

 absence of cultivation. Seemann' mentions that the 

 species is found in sunny spots near Panama. 



• See Tussao's description, Flcn-e des Antilles, i. p. 183. 



' Hooker, Niger Flora, p. 531. 



» Sloane, Jamaica, 1707, vol. i. p. 254. 



' In Bull. 8oc. des Natur. de Moscou, 1822, vol. i. p. 34. 



» Aablet, Gvyane, i. p. 3. » Meyer, Flora Essequibo, p. 11. 



' Seemann, Bot. of Herald., p. 213. 



