M ATI ANT A. 
330 
by Linnaeus, Loureiro removed it into the genus Amo- 
raum ; where it is alfo placed in this work. Swartz fug- 
gelled that it is an Alpinia; and Willdenow has placed it 
in that genus. See the defcription, &c. under Amomum 
galanga, vol. i. p. 481. 
3. Maranta gibbn, or gibbous-fruited arrow-root: ftem 
branched, fhrubby, perennial. Leaves ovate, taper-point¬ 
ed, fmooth ; flowers panicled ; germen iilky ; fruit gib¬ 
bous at one flde. Native of Barbadoes, whence it was 
fent by the earl of Seaforth, when governor of that ifland, 
to the botanic garden at Liverpool. In general appear¬ 
ance this much refembles M. arundinacea ; but the leaves 
are quite fmooth, except the knot which combines them 
■with their footftalks, which is, as in the former, very 
'hairy upwards. The flowers are fmaller; their germen 
beautifully fllky, with denfe filvery hairs, though the 
ftalk below, and calyx above, are perfectly fmooth and 
naked. The fruits, five in number, lofe their pubefcence 
in ripening. A plant was raifed from the feed of this 
fpecies, ripened at Liverpool. 
4. Maranta fylvatica, or wood arrow-root: ftem much 
branched, fhrubby, perennial; leaves ovate, acute, fmooth, 
-with a hairy central line above; flowers panicled ; germen 
hairy upward. This was likewife fent from Barbadoes to 
the Liverpool garden, by lord Seaforth. It flowers lefs 
freely than the laft. The ftem is hard and knotty, fome- 
•what in the ftyle of a bamboo. Leaves numerous, about 
•two inches long, ovate, fcarcely taper-pointed, fmooth, 
except a conllant hairy line, clofe to each fide of the 
nerve, above. They are ftriated above and below', in this 
and the laft, exaftly as in M. arundinacea. Flowers few 
and fmall. 
5. Maranta tonchat, or Eaft-Indian arrow-root: ftem 
branched, (lirubby, perennial ; leaves elliptic-ovate, point¬ 
ed, fmooth ; flowers panicled ; german filky ; fruit glo- 
bofe; corolla five times the length of the calyx. Native 
of woods, plains, and valleys, in the Eaft Indies, whence 
it was brought us by lord vifcount Valentia. Rumphius 
fays it is more plentiful in Ceram and Celebes than in 
Amboyna ; Loureiro gathered it in the woods of Cochin- 
china. The ftem is eight feet high; fhrubby, hard, round, 
fmooth, and folid ; Ample and naked in the lower part, 
■branched and leafy above. Leaves broad-ovate, with a 
•fmall point, fcarcely three inches long in the dried fpeci- 
men ; Rumphius defcribes them as a fpan in length, and 
the breadth of five or fix fingers; they are fmooth, with 
many lateral veins, but not ftriated lengthwife or tranf- 
verfely as in the three foregoing. Flowers white, confi- 
derably larger than any of the former. This fpecies is, as 
Ventenat has obferved, very different from M. tonchat of 
Aublet, which may be merely a variety of the firlt fpecies ; 
but this we have no means of determining. 
6. Marantalutea,oryellowifliarrow-root: ftem branched, 
flirubby, perennial. Leaves ovate; branches of the pani¬ 
cle fomewhat fpiked ; braftes ovate, imbricated, coloured. 
Native of moift woods in the Caraccas. It flowered with 
Jacquin, in the ftove, from June to Auguft, ripening fruit 
in September and October. It has the tuberous creeping 
root, and general habit, of the four foregoing fpecies. 
The (Ferns are feveral, fix feet high, perennial, branched, 
fmooth, and fhining, Leaves feveral, in two ranks from 
the root ; thofe of the ftem alternate, ovate, about a foot 
long and four inches wide; their footftalks about the 
fame length. Calyx-leaves elliptical, of the fame dirty 
or tawny yellow as the bracfes; corolla white ; the lip 
three-lobed ; germen fmooth ; coat of the fruit firmly ad¬ 
hering to the nut. 
7. Maranta gracilis, or flender-fpiked arrow-root: ftems 
Ample; leaves ovate, pointed; fpikes terminal, folitary ; 
braftes imbricated, fheathing, cylindrical. Native of 
Guiana, communicated by T. F. Forfter, efq. This has 
the habit of a bamboo, except that the ftems are Ample, 
and only a foot high ; they are (lender, fmooth, and leafy. 
Leaves near three inches long, light green, taper-pointed, 
sounded at the bafe, fmooth, except a hairy line along the 
nerve on the upper fiue; their veins tranfveffe, as in the 
other fpecies ; not parallel to the rib, as delineated in 
Rudge Guian. 8. t. 3. 
8. Maranta obliqua, or oblique-leaved arrow-root; 
leaves elliptical, oblique at the point, on very long foot¬ 
ftalks; fpikes cluftered ; braftes crowded, fheathing, cy¬ 
lindrical. Found by Mr, Alexander Anderfon in the 
Weft Indies, according to the Bankfian Herbarium. Mr. 
Rudge had it from Guiana. The whole plant appears 
herbaceous; the leaves being radical, on footftalks two 
feet long, fheathing in their lower part ; the leaf itfelf is 
about a foot long, and fix inches broad, elliptical or fome¬ 
what ovate, terminating in a very fliort, oblique or late¬ 
ral, curved point ; fmooth on both fides; the veins tranf- 
verfe, extremely numerous and dole, five times as nu¬ 
merous as' in Mr. Rudge’s figure. 
9. Maranta fpicata, or long-flalked fpiked arrow-root; 
leaves ovate-oblong, unequal-fided, oblique at the point, 
on long footftalks; fpike Ample, folitary, on a long ftalk. 
Gathered by Aublet in a boggy foreft in Guiana. One of 
his leaves was given by fir Jofeph Banks to the younger 
Linnaeus, who has, in his herbarium, accompanied it 
with a rough drawing of the fpike of flowers, and a note in 
Swedifh, faying he had “ feen four leaves, all of the fame 
ft range fliape,” Thefe materials, though imperfeft, are 
valuable, as Aublet has given no figure of this, any more 
than of his M. arouma, humilis, or lutea, about which 
therefore following botanifts have been much in the dark. 
The leaf of M. fpicata is a foot long and three inches 
broad, fmooth and fhining, with numerous principal, as 
well as intermediate, tranfverfe veins; the bafe is rather 
unequal, and the two halves of the leaf upwards much 
more fo, one margin being curved, the other ftraight; the 
midrib running up perfectly ftraight till it reaches the 
former margin, when it turns fuddenly into the very fhort 
lateral or oblique point. The footftalk is, perhaps, as long 
as the leaf; bordered or fheathing below ; crowned with 
a cylindrical finely-docvny knot, an inch long, where it 
joins the leaf. Spike ereft, three inches in length, fup- 
ported by a very-long round Ample ereft naked ftalk 
( which we may prefume to be radical), and fubtended by 
a large ovate fheathing brafte. Each flower, or perhaps 
pair of flowers, appears alfo to have an appropriate much- 
narrower braCte, an inch long, and thefe bradtes are about 
ten in all, imbricated in feveral rows. Aublet fays they 
are firm and coriaceous, and the flowers white. 
10. Maranta allouia, or lateral-tufted arrow-root: leaves 
radical, ovate, acute, on long (talks; head of flowers fef- 
iile, from a lateral cleft in the footftalk. Aublet found 
this plant in the fame marfhy foreft with the laft. The 
root is furnifhed with knobs of various fizes, good to eat 
when roafted. Leaves radical, large, on long footftalks, 
fome of which bear a lateral tuft of numerous white feflile 
flowers; a mode of flowering analogous to that of the 
Acorus. The genus however of this fpecies mult depend 
on Aublet’s authority. 
n. Maranta Malaccenfis, or Malacca arrow-root: culm 
Ample; leaves oblong, petioled, filky-pubefcent under¬ 
neath. This is a doubtful plant. Kir. Rofcoe, in the 
Linn. Tranf. vol. viii. has referred it to Alpinia. 
12. Maranta comofa, or leafy-headed arrow-root: ftem- 
lefs; fcape fpiked, comofe ; leaflets of the coma reflex. 
Scape leaflefs, round, even, the thicknefs of a fwan’s 
quill, three feet high. Native of Surinam, where it was 
found by Dalberg. Perhaps it may conftitute a new genus; 
the appearance is certainly very different from that of the 
others. 
Aublet has feveral other fpecies of Maranta, but hisde- 
fcriptions of them are too fliort to enable us to form any 
judgment concerning them. Probably fome do not be¬ 
long to this genus. See N° 9. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants, being natives of 
a warm country, are very tender, and therefore will not 
live in this climate, unlefs they are prelerved in ftovea. 
They may be propagated by their creeping roots, which 
ihould 
