THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
67 
Indicn) is the only familiar member of the canna family. 
This is the smallest family in the group with less that forty 
species. The rootstocks of several species yield starch. The 
starch-producing' family, par excellence, is the MarantacejE. 
Maranta armidinacea is the plant from which the arrow-root 
of commerce is obtained and the rootstocks of numerous 
other species may be used. There are nearly three hundred 
species of Marantacese in the tropics. In addition to our 
familiar banana {Mitsa paradisiaca) the Musaceae includes 
the Manila hemp {Miisa tcxtUis) itself a banana, and the 
famous traveler's tree {Rin'enaJa Madagascariensis) . The 
banana family is not large, there being about eighty species 
included in it. Several species are grown for ornament 
and may be found in nearly any large collection of plants. 
A FERN COMMUNITY. 
SOME time ago I had opportunity to visit several times 
during the months of September and October a bit of 
the '-forest primeval." It was only a bit to sure, consist- 
*ing of a tract of four or five acres on ttie premises of a 
wealthy farmer. Here the axe had spared a few noble old 
grants— €lms, beeches and maples— which looked as if they 
might have been respectable trees before the Declaration of 
Independence was signed. Through the center of this bit 
of forest wandered a tiny brook, little more than a rivulet 
in fact. The moist, rich soil and the kindly shade made it 
an ideal spot for certain ferns, and right gladly did they take 
advantage of it. 
All of the osmundas were present, the royal fern 
{Osmunda regalis) growing beside the brook, while over 
the fence in an adjoining meadow were both the cmnamon 
