asO DESCRIPTION OF 



into the soil, in various directions ; and, in hy far the greater number of 

 the species, if not in. all, several of them terminate in a singje, oblong 

 luber. These are invariably less deeply coloured, and less fragrant than 

 the ovate bulbs, and palmate tubers of the same plant. In various^ parts 

 of India, the natives prepare, from these tubers, and from no other part,. a 

 very line, pure white 5^ar<:/i or/^a//a, which they use medicinally, and as 

 an article of diet. It is every way like what is met with under the name 

 arrow-root; and the process for obtaining it is exactly as described by 

 Dr. Wright, for obtaining that substance from the roots of Maranta 

 arundinacea. That followed, by the Malays, is mentioned by Rumphius 

 in his Herbarium Amhoi?iense. 5. P. 171,. 



All the above described parts lie dormant in the ground, the whole of 

 the cool season; analogous to the winter in Europe; and on the approach 

 of the rains, the buds on the opposite sides of the bulbs, which had re- 

 mained unproduftlve during the first year, (that of their formation,) and 

 ©n the apexes, rarely the alternate buds, sometimes found in two rows on 

 opposite, (upper and under) sides, of the palmate tubers; begin to swell, 

 and produce the plants of the advancing season, which perish on the ap- 

 proach of the winter, &c. In no instance have I found the pendulous 

 tubers produ6tive. They seem solely intended by Providence, for the use 

 of man. 



It may be proper to observe, that all the descriptions, and figures of the 

 roots of the plants of this genus, are taken when in their most perfect 

 state; that is, during the winter, or cool season, when no other part exists. 



In all the species, the leaves- are radical ; as it is only their sheaths that 

 form the resemblance of a short stem. They are bifarious, and herbace- 



