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1.— CANNA INDICA. 

 Nat. Oed. — Marantaceas. 



The plants of this order yield most of the 

 Arrowroots of commerce, and although closely 

 allied to the Zingiber acece, are, as a rule, desti- 

 tute of aromatic properties. They are natives of 

 most tropical regions. The Starch of Canna 

 Indica exhibits, more prominently than any other, 

 the characters of the Starches of this order. The 

 granules are of large size and great beauty, the 

 concentric lines are more distinct than in Canna 

 edulis, which most nearly resembles it. The 

 hilum, both in this and " Tous le mois," is round, 

 and in some of the granules double (two good 

 examples of this are seen in the illustration). 

 This double hilum also occurs in other Starches, 

 and appears to arise from the coalescence of two 

 young granules and is not the result of multiplica- 

 tion by sub-division. The Starch is obtained from 

 the rhizome and tubers, as in others of the same 

 natural order. The Starch from which this 

 photograph was taken was obtained from a 

 plant cultivated in England. The ripe seeds are 

 known as Indian Shot, from their black colour 

 and great hardness. 



