546 



MARANTACEAE. 



Vol. I. 



Family 30. MARANTACEAE Lindl. 



Arrowroot Family. 



Nat. Syst. 1830. 



Tall herbs, perennial by rootstocks or tubers, or sometimes annual, with 

 scapose or leafy stems, mostly large entire long-petioled sheathing leaves, often 

 swollen at the base of the blade, the veins pinnate, parallel. Flowers perfect or 

 sometimes polygamous, irregular, in panicles, racemes or spikes. Perianth supe- 

 rior, its segments distinct to the summit of the ovary or united into a tube, normally 

 in 2 series of 3, the outer (sepals) usually different from the inner (petals). Per- 

 fect stamen 1 ; anthers 1-2-celled. Staminodia mostly 5, often petal-like, separate 

 or united by their bases, very irregular. Ovary 1-3-celled, inferior; ovule 1 in 

 each cavity, anatropous ; style slender, curved, terminal ; stigma simple. Fruit 

 capsular or berry-like, 1-3-celled. Seed solitary in each cavity. Embryo central, 

 in copious endosperm. 



About 12 genera and 160 species, mostly in the tropics, a few in warm-temperate regions. 



i. THALIA L. Sp. PI. 1 193. 1753. 



Annual (or perennial?) herbs, with large long-petioled basal leaves, erect simple scapes 

 and terminal panicled spikes of bracted usually purple flowers. Sepals 3, membranous, sepa- 

 rate, equal. Petals 3, separate or somewhat coherent at the base. Staminodia slightly united 

 below, one of them (labellum) broad, crested. Anther i-celled. Ovary i-celled or with 2 

 additional small empty cavities. Base of the style adnate to the base of the stamen-tube. 

 Stigma 2-lipped, dorsally appendaged. Capsule globose or ovoid. Seed erect. Embryo 

 strongly curved. [In honor of Johann Thalius, German naturalist of the sixteenth century.] 



About 7 species, all American. Besides the following, another occurs in the southern States. 

 Type species : Thalia geniculata L. 



i. Thalia dealbata Roscoe. Powdery Thalia. 

 Fig. I35 2 - 



Thalia dealbata Roscoe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 8: 340. 1807. 



Plant finely white-powdery nearly all over. Scapes 

 rather stout, terete, 3°-6° tall; petioles l°-2j° long, 

 terete; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at 

 the apex, rounded, narrowed or subcordate at the 

 base, i°-i° long, 3'-s' wide; panicle 8'-i8' long, its 

 spikes numerous, usually erect or ascending; bracts 

 of the panicle narrow, deciduous, not longer than the 

 spikes; bractlets ovate, unequal, coriaceous, about ¥ 

 long; flowers purple, longer than the bractlets; cap- 

 sule ovoid, about 4" in diameter. 



In ponds and swamps, South Carolina to Louisiana, 

 Missouri and Texas. 



Family 31. BURMANNIACEAE Blume, Enum. PI. Jav. 1 : 27. 1830* 



Burmannia Family. 



Low annual herbs, with filiform stems and fibrous roots. Leaves basal or 

 reduced to cauline scales or bracts.- Flowers regular, perfect, the perianth with 

 6 small thick lobes, its tube adnate to the ovary. Stamens 3 or 6, included, 

 inserted on the tube of the perianth ; anthers 2-celled, the sacs transversely dehis- 

 cent. Style slender ; stigmas 3, dilated ; ovary inferior, with 3 central or parietal 

 placentae. Ovules numerous. Capsule many-seeded. Seeds minute, oblong; 

 endosperm none. 



Ten genera and about 70 species, widely distributed in tropical regions. The family is repre- 

 sented in North America by the following genus and by Apteria of the Gulf States. 



* Text contributed to the first edition by the late Rev. Thomas Morong. 



