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Flora Medica

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Corowatti in British Guayana is spoken of by Dr. Hancock(Med. gaz. xix. 718), as a bitterish pungent subacrid plant, actingas a diaphoretic and diuretic, or in large doses as an emetic, andof great value in dropsies, rheumatism, dysentery, hooping-cough,&c. The bruised rhizoma is the part used.MARANTACE^E.Nat. syst.ed. 2. p. 324.MARANTA.Corolla unequal, one of the inner segments in the form ofa lip.Stamens petaloid, 1 with half an anther on its edge. Style hooded,adhering to the edge of a sterile filament. Ovary 3-celled,smooth ; ovules solitary. Fruit even, 1 dry, -seeded. Caulescentplants with fleshy rhizomata or tubers. Stems branched,often dichotomous. Inflorescence terminal, panicled, jointed,with glumaceous deciduous bracts.1204. M. arundinacea Linn, sp.pl.2. Redout. Liliac. t. 57.N. and E. handb. i. 235. pi. med. tt. 69, 70. Fee cours. i. 359.M. indica Tussac journ. bot. iii. 41. N. and E. handb. i. 236.West Indies ;introduced to Jamaica from Barbadoes.Root perennial, fibrous, producing numerous fusiform fleshy scalypendulous tubers from its crown. Stem 2-3 feet high, much branched,slender, finely hairy, tumid at the joints. Leaves alternate, with longleafy hairy sheaths, ovate, lanceolate, slightly hairy underneath, palegreen on both sides. Panicles terminal, lax, spreading, with long linearsheathing bracts at the ramifications. Ovary hairy. Calyx green,smooth. Corolla white, small. Fruit nearly globular, with 3 obsoleteangles, the size of a small currant. The tubers yield the Arrow rootof commerce, one of the lightest and most nutritious of vegetablealiments. It was reckoned a powerful alexipharmic, and derives itsEnglish name from its reputed property of counteracting the effects ofpoisoned arrows.CANNA.Corolla unequal, variable in the number of its parts, scarcelylip-shaped in any segment. Stamens petaloid, 1 with half ananther on the edge. Style straight flat, nearly free. Ovary3-celled, many-seeded, granular.Fruit membranous, 3-valved,with a deciduous granular surface. Rhizomas creeping, tuberousor wanting. Stems erect, with distant sheathing leaves.Inflorescence terminal spiked or racemose. Flowers investedwith glumaceous bracts.569

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