1118

 Maranta arundinacea L.

 

Synonym	:	Maranta sylvatica Roscoe
Family	:	Marantaceae
Flowering and fruiting period	:	January to May
Distribution	:	A Central American species but very widely cultivated in South India for Arrowroot.
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Key botanical characters:   Rhizomatous ground herb. Rhizomes sympodial, cylindric, fleshy, starchy with tubers. Plant 30–130 cm tall, erect, often apically branched, slender. Basal leaves 4–8; cauline leaves 1–8. Petiole 3.7–20 cm, in basal leaves often absent in cauline leaves; pulvinous 0.2–1.8 cm long, glabrous except adaxially tomantose. Leaf blade ovate-oblong, 3.5–3.9 × 3–9 cm, adaxially dark green, sparsely pilose; abaxially light green, glabrous, base oblique–truncate, apex acuminate. Ligule c. 0.2 cm, bifid, dark purple with green tinted, slightly pubescent. Inflorescence terminal, several per leafy shoot. Peduncle woody, green, 26–27 cm long, 0.1–0.2 cm thick. Bract 1 or 2, each subtending 2–3 flower pairs, disticous, green, 2.5–3.3 × 0.2–0.5 cm, margins hyaline, transparent; tip acuminate. Flowers in a common pedicel, 2 opens at a time, 2.8–3 cm, white. Capsule ellipsoid, green or tinted with reddish brown.