Seed in the Scitamineae. 
3 
group has been divided by German authors into three or 
four families, corresponding to the orders of Bentham and 
Hooker, while the English writers regard these divisions as of 
sub-ordinal rank. Most recent writers are disposed to make 
four sub-divisions, and, as the following pages present additional 
arguments for this view, the Scitamineae will be here regarded 
as comprising four distinct groups worthy of family rank. 
In the Musaceae the androecium comprises five fertile 
stamens, with sometimes a small staminodium in place of 
the sixth. The more or less completely suppressed stamen 
is that member of the inner whorl which is opposite the odd 
petal. In all the other families, on the other hand, this is the 
only functional stamen. The two other members of the inner 
whorl are fused in the Zingiberaceae to form the large petaloid 
Habellum , 5 while in the Cannaceae and Marantaceae they 
remain petaloid and separate. In the Cannaceae one forms 
a labellum, its homologue in the Marantaceae being thin and 
crumpled and known as the ‘hood.’ The other inner member 
forms the flat ‘ wing ’ of the Cannaceae, but is thickened and 
known as the ‘callus-leaf’ in the Marantaceae. The outer 
whorl may be represented by one or more petaloid staminodia, 
or may be entirely suppressed, in these three families. The 
fertile stamen of the Zingiberaceae is complete ; but in the 
other two families only one half or lobe produces pollen, 
while the other half is represented by a petaloid expansion. 
The inferior ovary of all the Scitamineae, except a small 
group of the Zingiberaceae, is trilocular, and most commonly 
contains numerous anatropous ovules borne on axile placentas. 
But in the genus Heliconia of the Musaceae, and in all the 
Marantaceae, each loculus contains only a single ovule rising 
from its base, while in some of the genera of the latter family 
only one loculus is fertile. Except in the cases just referred 
to, the fruit is a several- or many-seeded capsule or berry ; in 
these it is dry, imperfectly dehiscent, and three-seeded, except 
in the one-seeded Marantaceae. As will be seen, the structure 
of the seeds differs much in the various families ; but the 
presence of some structure comprised under the indefinite term 
B 2 
