Interesting Facts
Description
Family Marantaceae
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.[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Zingiberanae
()
- Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Zingiberales
()
- Grisebach, 1854
- Family:
Marantaceae
()
- R. Br., in Flinders, 1814, nom. cons.
- Prayer-Plant Family
- Family:
Marantaceae
(
- Order:
Zingiberales
(
- Superorder:
Zingiberanae
(
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author : Eichl. Publication : Abh. Berl. Akad. (1884) 83
Similar Species
Members of the genus Ctenanthe
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 7 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
C. amabilis (Prayer Plant) · C. burle-marxii (Prayer Plant) · C. lubbersiana (Ctenanthe) · C. lubbersiana 'Brazilian Snow' (Ctenanthe) · C. oppenheimiana (Never-Never Plant) · C. oppenheimiana var. Tricolor (Never-Never Plant) · C. pilosa 'Golden Mosaic' (Golden Mosaic Golden Variegated Ctenanthe)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- In: Wu Te-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 16(2): 158--169.
- Wu Te-lin & Chen Sen-jen. 1981. Marantaceae.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 16, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3488821
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15607183
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:796414-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 796414-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1083196
Footnotes
- Delin Wu & Helen Kennedy "Marantaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 379. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
