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22. Marantaceae Petersen
竹竽科 zhu yu ke
Authors: Delin Wu & Helen Kennedy
Herbs perennial, rhizomatous. Aerial stems present or absent. Leaves distichous, usually large; petiole sheathing at base, apex with a swollen pulvinus; leaf blade pinnately veined, lateral veins parallel, slightly S-shaped. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, borne on leafy shoots or occasionally on separate, leafless shoots from rhizomes, compound, headlike, spicate, or diffuse and much branched, bracteate; bracts each subtending a pair of flowers or a cincinus of paired flowers. Flowers bisexual, asymmetric, paired or rarely borne singly. Sepals 3, free. Corolla lobes 3, often slightly unequal, basally connate into a tube. Staminodes and stamen in 2 whorls: outer whorl with 1 or 2 petaloid staminodes, rarely absent; inner whorl with 1 hooded (cucullate) staminode enclosing terminal portion of pistil at anthesis and bearing a lateral appendage (trigger), 1 thickened and fleshy (callose) staminode, and 1 fertile stamen narrowly petaloid laterally; anther 1-loculed. Ovary inferior, 3-loculed, 1--3 locules fertile; ovules 1 per locule. Style cylindric, adnate to inside of corolla and staminode tube, free portion curved after explosive forward movement (tripping) when released Seeds 1--3, hard, usually arillate.from hooded staminode; stigma scoop-shaped or blunted and 3-cleft. Fruit a capsule, loculicidal, rarely indehiscent or berrylike.
Thirty-one genera and ca. 525 species: pantropical but ca. 80% in America, absent from Australia; four genera (one introduced) and eight species (two endemic, one introduced) in China.
Wu Te-lin & Chen Sen-jen. 1981. Marantaceae. In: Wu Te-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 16(2): 158--169.
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| 1 |
Stems simple; cauline leaf 1 or absent; inflorescences capitate or spikelike; flower pairs subsessile; sepals and ovary not visible (covered by bracts); corolla tube proximally ± solid, not obviously hollow. |
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(2) |
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Stems branched to much branched; cauline leaves (1 or)2 to numerous; inflorescences terminal on leafy shoots, racemose or paniculate; flower pairs exerted; sepals and ovary clearly visible; corolla tube obviously hollow throughout. |
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(3) |
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| 2 (1) |
Bracts numerous, spirally arranged, tan, red-purple, or green, leathery; cauline leaf 1, rarely absent; sepals slightly shorter than or longer than corolla tube |
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1 Phrynium |
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Bracts 6--8, distichous, green, herbaceous; cauline leaves absent, all leaves basal; sepals less than 1/3 as long as corolla tube |
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2 Stachyphrynium |
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| 3 (1) |
Bracts numerous, deciduous; bracteoles present; sepals white, 2.5--4 mm; fruit globose, white to pale cream, indehiscent; plants 1.5--5 m tall, much branched above a basal, bamboolike cane; basal leaves absent |
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3 Donax |
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Bracts 1--3, persistent; bracteoles absent; sepals green, 7--17 mm; fruit ellipsoid, green or tinged reddish brown, dehiscent; plants 0.4—1.3 m tall, once to moderately branched; basal leaves several, always present |
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4 Maranta |
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Lower Taxa
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