Marantaceae | |
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Maranta leuconeura | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Zingiberales |
Family: | Marantaceae R.Br. [1] |
Type genus | |
Maranta | |
Genera | |
See text |
The Marantaceae are a family, the arrowroot family, or the prayer plant family, of flowering plants consisting of 31 genera and around 530 species, defining it as one of the most species-rich families in its order. [2] [3] Species of this family are found in lowland tropical forests of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The majority (80%) of the species are found in the American tropics, followed by Asian (11%) and African (9%) tropics. [2] They are commonly called the prayer-plant family and are also known for their unique secondary pollination presentation.
The plants usually have underground rhizomes or tubers. The leaves are arranged in two rows with the petioles having a sheathing base. The leaf blade is narrow or broad with pinnate veins running parallel to the midrib. The petiole may be winged, and swollen into a pulvinus at the base.[ citation needed ]
The inflorescence is a spike or panicle, enclosed by spathe-like bracts. The flowers are small and often inconspicuous, irregular, and bisexual, usually with an outer three free sepals and an inner series of three petaloid-like segments, tube-like in appearance. The fruit is either fleshy or a loculicidal capsule. [4] Many species have only a single stamen and that stamen has only a single locule, an oddity they share only with the genus Canna. [5]
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 Marantaceae are considered the most derived family in this group due to the extreme reduction in both stamens and carpels.[ citation needed ]
The family consists of 29 genera with about 570 known species, [6] found in the tropical areas of the world except in Australia. The biggest concentration is in the Americas, with seven genera in Africa, and six in Asia.
Cladogram: Phylogeny of Zingiberales [7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Phylogenetic tree of the family. [8]
Marantaceae |
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Arilated seeds of Marantaceae are dispersed mainly by birds and mammals. In Amazonia, crickets and ants are important secondary dispersers. [9]
Rosmarinic acid can be found in plants in the family Marantaceae such as species in the genera Maranta ( Maranta leuconeura , Maranta depressa ) and Thalia ( Thalia geniculata ). [10]
Marantaceae have a distinctive pollination mechanism that is defined by an explosive style movement. It is commonly termed explosive because the action is swift, occurs only one time for each flower, and is irreversible. [11] This quick pollination event plays a significant role in optimizing mating and has been hypothesized to be a factor in the high level of speciation within this family. [3] There are two parts of the floral anatomy that contribute to the explosive pollination mechanism: the style and the hooded staminode. [3]
The secondary pollination presentation begins after a mechanical stimulus is introduced by a pollinator on the trigger appendage of the hooded staminode. [12] [11] Touching this trigger causes the release of the style from the contacted staminode, leading to rapid inward rolling of the style which is no longer being held under high tension. [12] [13] During this quick rolling movement, self pollen (located on top of the style) is deposited on the pollinator while cross-pollen is scooped off the pollinator into the stigmatic cavity. [13] [11] This single action occurs very quickly with the full movement being clocked in at around 0.03 seconds. [13]
The most well-known species in the family is arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea ), a plant of the Caribbean, grown in parts of the Caribbean, Australasia, and sub-Saharan Africa for its easily digestible starch known as arrowroot. It is grown commercially in the West Indies and tropical Americas.[ citation needed ]
Several species of genus Goeppertia are grown as houseplants for their large ornamental leaves, which are variegated in shades of green, white, and pink. Other genera grown for houseplants includes Stromanthe , Ctenanthe , and Maranta .[ citation needed ]
Calathea lutea has tough, durable leaves used to make waterproof baskets, and in the Caribbean and Central America, its leaves are used for roofing. Two Mexican species - C. macrosepala and C. violacea - have flowers that are cooked and used as vegetables. C. allouia or leren, from the West Indies and tropical America, is known as sweet corn root for its edible tuber.[ citation needed ]
Schumannianthus dichotomus is used for weaving mats to use on floors and beds.[ citation needed ]
The Zingiberales are flowering plants forming one of four orders in the commelinids clade of monocots, together with its sister order, Commelinales. The order includes 68 genera and 2,600 species. Zingiberales are a unique though morphologically diverse order that has been widely recognised as such over a long period of time. They are usually large herbaceous plants with rhizomatous root systems and lacking an aerial stem except when flowering. Flowers are usually large and showy, and the stamens are often modified (staminodes) to also form colourful petal-like structures that attract pollinators.
Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus Geranium. The family includes both the genus Geranium and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus Pelargonium, along with other related genera.
Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 known species in 41 genera. Well known genera include Commelina (dayflowers) and Tradescantia (spiderworts). The family is diverse in both the Old World tropics and the New World tropics, with some genera present in both. The variation in morphology, especially that of the flower and inflorescence, is considered to be exceptionally high amongst the angiosperms.
Costaceae, known as the Costus family or spiral gingers, is a family of pantropical monocots. It belongs to the order Zingiberales, which contains horticulturally and economically important plants such as the banana (Musaceae), bird-of-paradise (Strelitziaceae), and edible ginger (Zingiberaceae). The seven genera in Costaceae together contain about 143 known species. They are native to tropical climates of Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. Several species are frequently found in cultivation.
Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three genera, Meliosma, Ophiocaryon and Sabia, with 66 known species, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern Asia and the Americas. The family has also been called Meliosmaceae Endl., 1841, nom. rej.
Eupomatia is a genus of three species of plants in the ancient family Eupomatiaceae, and is the sole genus in the family. Eupomatiaceae is recognised by most taxonomists and classified in the plant order Magnoliales. The three described species are shrubs or small trees, native to the rainforests and humid eucalypt forests of eastern Australia and New Guinea. The type species Eupomatia laurina was described in 1814 by Robert Brown.
Prayer plant may refer to:
Rosmarinic acid, named after rosemary, is a polyphenol constituent of many culinary herbs, including rosemary, perilla, sage, mint, and basil.
Goeppertia veitchiana is a species of flowering plant in the Marantaceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
Maranta is a genus of flowering plants in the family Marantaceae, native to tropical Central and South America and the West Indies. Maranta was named for Bartolomeo Maranta, an Italian physician and botanist of the sixteenth century.
Ctenanthe oppenheimiana, the giant bamburanta or never-never plant, is a species of flowering plant of family Marantaceae and is a native of Brazil. It is an evergreen perennial. This plant can grow to more than 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and broad, with long narrow leaves up to 40 cm (16 in) in length. The leaves are adorned on the secondary veins with dark green bands, which meet and merge in the margins. In between are cream coloured bands. The undersides of the leaves have a red-ish colour. The cultivar 'Tricolor' is a common ornamental variety, which as a houseplant in the UK has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.. This cultivar is visually very similar to Stromanthe Sanguinea 'Triostar', and the two are often confused. The difference between the two lies in the lack of regular banding on the leaves of the Sromanthe, and the generally more rounded shape of the leaves in Ctenanthe.
Goeppertia insignis, the rattlesnake plant, is a species of flowering plant in the Marantaceae family, native to Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil.
Maranta leuconeura, widely known as the prayer plant due to its daily sunlight-dependent movements, is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae native to the Brazilian tropical forests. It is a variable, rhizomatous perennial, growing to 30 cm (12 in) tall and broad, with crowded clumps of evergreen, strikingly-marked oval leaves, each up to 12 cm (5 in) long. The plant spreads itself horizontally, carpeting an entire small area of forest floor, sending roots into the substrate at each leaf node.
Thalia geniculata, the bent alligator-flag, arrowroot, or fire-flag, is a plant species widespread across tropical Africa and much of the Americas.
Goeppertia warszewiczii is a species of perennial, herbaceous plant in the Marantaceae family, endemic to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It grows up to 0.5 to 1 meters high, by 0.5 to 1 meters wide, with patterned lanceolate leaves, and white cone-like inflorescences that fade to yellow or pink.
Stromanthe sanguinea is a plant species in the arrowroot family Marantaceae, native to the Brazilian rainforest.
Goeppertia roseopicta is a species of flowering plant in the arrowroot and prayer-plant family Marantaceae, native to northwestern Brazil's Amazonian basin. Oftentimes, it is marketed as a houseplant under its former generic name and synonym Calathea roseopicta. It is a clump-forming, evergreen perennial, growing to 50 cm (20 in), and is very similar in appearance to G. makoyana. The typical "wild-type", or "natural" form, has papery, ovate leaves of a pastel, seafoam-green hue, outlined with a dark-green edging and "painted" horizontally from the midribs with darker streaks; typical of other species in its family and genus, G. roseopicta features dark reddish, purplish backsides to its foliage, an evolutionary adaptation to growing in darkened or shaded areas on the forest floor, where adequate light reflection is required for photosynthesis.
Goeppertia majestica, the majestic prayer plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae. It is native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, and northern Brazil, and has been introduced to Venezuela. A large member of its genus, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Goeppertia cylindrica is a species of plant in the Marantaceae family. It is native to eastern and central Brazil.
Goeppertia burle-marxii is a species of plant in the Marantaceae family native to Brazil. It is named after Roberto Burle Marx. Common names for Goeppertia burle-marxii include "Blue Ice Calathea" and "White Ice Calathea".