Marantaceae

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Marantaceae

Maranta leuconeura

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Marantaceae R.Br.

Genera

See text

The Marantaceae or arrowroot family is a family of flowering plants known for its large starchy rhizomes. It is sometimes called the prayer-plant family. Combined morphological and DNA phylogenetic analyses indicate the family originated in Africa, although this is not the center of its extant diversity.^[1]

The most well known species in the family is arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), a plant of the Caribbean, grown for its easily digestible starch in parts of the Caribbean, Australasia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Several species of genus Calathea are grown as houseplants for their large ornamental leaves, variegated in shades of green, white and pink. Another genus grown for houseplants includes stromanthe.

[edit] Taxonomy

The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids in the monocots. The family counts a few dozen genera, totalling hundreds of species, found in the tropical areas of the world except in Australia. Called a prayer-plant as it folds up its leaves at night and looks like its praying.

[edit] References

^ Andersson, L; Chase MW (March 2001). "Phylogeny and classification of Marantaceae". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 135 (3): 275-287. Academic Press.