Flore d'Afrique Centrale: Spermatophytes, Marantaceae

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Language: French with English summary

A flora treatment for the Marantaceae occurring in the Central African region is given. The family is represented by 10 genera, 22 species and 7 varieties, all of which occur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi has three species, and the family is absent from Rwanda. User-friendly keys to all taxa are included. Members of this family are readily recognized by a thickening of the upper part of the petiole called "callus". In the Flora region, they are often dominant in the understory of tropical lowland rainforest constituting a distinct forest type: "Marantaceae forest". Especially the large and durable leaves found in many of these species are widely used by the local population for e.g. cooking and housing construction. All species come with a full description, synonyms, data on their distribution, habitat, vernacular names, pollination ecology and uses, as well as references to additional literature and the citation of specimens. All species are also illustrated by detailed line drawings and colour photographs.

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