Herbs. Leaves for the most part radical, linear, toothed. Inflorescence terminal, cone-shaped. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Perianth consisting of a calyx and a corolla. Petals slightly cohering and bearing two scales at the base. Stamens 6, slightly adhering to the petals. Anthers linear, turned inwards. Ovary inferior or half-inferior, 3-celled, with many axile, inverted ovules. Style 1; stigmas 3. Fruits berry-like, united into a cone-shaped head. Embryo near the base of the mealy albumen.
Genus 1, species 1 (A. sativus Schult., pine-apple). Cultivated and often naturalised in the tropics. The edible fruit and the fibres of the leaves are used. (Ananassa Lindl.) Ananas Adans.
SUBORDER COMMELININEAE
[FAMILY 28.] COMMELINACEAE
Herbs. Leaves alternate. Inflorescence cymose. Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth-segments 6, more or less distinctly separated into sepals and petals. Fertile stamens 2-6. Ovary superior, 2-3-celled. Ovules straight. Style terminal. Embryo near the apex of the more or less mealy albumen.—Genera 12, species 160. (Plate 16.)
1. Fruit indehiscent, ovate or globular. Ovary 3-celled. Petals free, white, more rarely pale pink or blueish. Inflorescence a panicle without spathe-like bracts. [Tribe POLLIEAE.] 2
Fruit dehiscing loculicidally. 3
2. Pericarp succulent. Margin of the leaves silky. Perfect stamens 3.—Species
10. West Africa and Upper Nile. Some are used as ornamental plants. Palisota Reichb.
Pericarp crusty. Margin of the leaves nearly glabrous. Perfect stamens
3 or 6.—Species 5. Tropics. Pollia Thunb.
3. Fertile stamens 2-3, sterile ones 0-4, often bearing empty anthers.
[Tribe COMMELINEAE.] 4
Fertile stamens 5-6. [Tribe TRADESCANTIEAE.] 7
4. Inflorescence in the axil of spathe-like bracts. 5
Inflorescence without spathe-like bracts. 6
5. Sterile stamens with linear anther-halves cohering at the base. Ovary
2-celled with 1 ovule in each cell. Petals white. Spathes on the elongate branches of a panicle.—Species 1. West Africa. Polyspatha Benth.
Sterile stamens with cross-shaped anthers. Ovary usually 3-celled. Petals usually blue.—Species 80. Some have an edible root-stock or yield vegetables, medicaments, or dyeing-materials; others are used as ornamental plants. Commelina L.
6. Sepals large, equal, lanceolate, acute. Petals equal. Fruit with 3 equal-sized, many-seeded cells.—Species 1. East Africa. Anthericopsis Engl.
ERIOCAULACEAE.
FLOW. PL. AFR.
Pl. 15.