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MARATTIACEAE 
Classification and genera : 
I. A ngiopterideae (sporangia free) : Angiopteris. 
II. Marattieae (synangia oval): Marattia (leaf pinnate); Kaulfussia 
(leaf palmate with curious chambers on lower side). 
III. Danaeeae (synangia long, opening by terminal pore) : Danaea. 
Marcgravia Plum, ex Linn. Marcgraviaceae. 16 sp. trop. Am. They 
are climbing epiphytic shrubs, with two kinds of shoots — vegetative, 
with two-ranked sessile leaves and clasping roots, and flowering, 
with stalked leaves, spirally arranged, and ending in a cymose umbel 
of flrs. The central firs, are abortive and their bracts are transformed 
into curious pocket-like coloured nectaries with stalks. The fertile 
flrs. stand upside down, the infl. being pendulous, and humming- 
birds rub against them with their backs, while drinking honey from 
the nectaries. 
Marcgraviaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Parietales). 5 gen. with 
40 sp. trop. Am. Trees or shrubs, often epiphytic, usually with 
pendulous infls. whose bracts are brightly coloured and transformed 
into nectaries. Firs. $ . K 4 — 5; C (4 — 5), dropping off as a cap; 
A 3 — 00 , free or united to one another and to the corolla. Ovary 
superior, originally i-loc. with 2 parietal placentae; ovules 00, ana- 
tropous ; style simple. Capsule. Endosperm thin. Chief genera : 
Marcgravia, Norantea. Benth. -Hooker unite M. to Theaceae (Tern- 
stroemiaceae) ; Warming places it in Cistiflorae. 
Margyricarpus Ruiz et Pav. Rosaceae (ill. 9). 1 sp. Andes. 
Marica Ker-Gawl. Iridaceae (11). 9 sp. trop. Am., Afr. 
Mariscus Gaertn. = Cyperus Linn. 
Marlea Roxb. Comaceae. 10 sp. Indo-mal. 
Marlierea Cambess. Myrtaceae (1). 50 sp. Brazil. The fruits of 
M. tomentosa Cambess. (Guapuronga) and M. edulis Ndz. (M. glome - 
rata Berg) are eaten. 
Marrubium Tourn. ex Linn. Labiatae (vi. 1). 30 sp. Eur., N. Afr., 
temp. As. M. vulgar e L., white horehound, in Brit, (rare), formerly 
officinal. 
Marsdenia R. Br. Asclepiadaceae (11. 4). 70 sp. trcj). and sub-trop. 
Marsilia Linn. Marsiliaceae. 30 sp. trop. and temp. The stem is a 
rhizome bearing leaves at the nodes, and roots on the lower side. 
The leaves are petiolate with four lobes, resembling those of ‘ 4-leaved 
clover.’ They ‘sleep’ at night like those of Oxalis. In some sp. they 
are floating, on delicate petioles. Others grow in shallow water, the 
leaves standing erect. Some sp., e.g. M. vestita Hook, et Grev., vege- 
tate during the wet season, and pass the dry in the form of sporocarps. 
The sporocarp is a bean-like structure, attached to the petiole of 
the leaf by a stalk. It contains a number of sori, each forming a 
chamber reaching from the ventral to the dorsal edge of the sporocarp. 
In each sorus on the outer side is a placenta in the form of a ridge 
bearing micro-sporangia on its sides and mega- sporangia on the top. 
