Author:
Jan Scholten
Book:
Qjurious
Type:
Info
Chapter:
3-633.50.00
Marantaceae
Clades: Zingiberales; Liliidae; Lilianae; Angiospermae; Plants.
English: Arrowroot family; Prayer-plant family.
Genera: 29 genera, ± 570 species.
Region: tropical, Americas, Africa, Asia.
Content: Rosmarinic acid.
Taxonomy
Marantaceae is a Family in Zingiberales in all 4 Apg classifications. Morphological and DNA phylogenetic analyses show the monophyly of Marantaceae and its origin in Africa.
In the second version of Plant theory Marantaceae is treated the same, in Zingiberales. Marantaceae is split in its 2 Subfamileis Marantoideae and Calatheoideae, which are placed in Subphase 2 and 3.
Botany: understory plants; large starchy, underground rhizomes or tubers; leaves narrow or broad, pinnate veins parallel to the midrib, arranged in two rows, petioles with a sheathing base, sometimes winged, swollen into a pulvinus at the base; flowers small, inconspicuous, irregular, bisexual, sepals three, free, three petaloid-like segments, tube-like in appearance; inflorescence is a spike or panicle, enclosed by spathe-like bracts; fruit fleshy or loculicidal capsule; extreme reduction in both stamens and carpels.