The genus Musa is known by its fruit, which is eaten under the names of Plantain and Banana. The flowers are produced in spikes, enclosed in spathe-like bracts, which are often richly coloured; and they are succeeded by the fruit, which hang down in massive spikes of enormous weight. The leaves are very large and strong, and Indian muslin is manufactured from the fibres of one of the species. The principal other genera, Strelitzia and Heliconia, are both remarkable for the brilliant colours of their flowers. ORDER CLXXXVII.—IRIDACEÆ. The principal genera belonging to this order are—Iris, Moræa, Marica, Vieusseuxia, Homeria, Sisyrinchium, Patersonia, Witsenia, Ferraria, Tigridia, Babiana, Watsonia, Gladiolus, Sparaxis, Tritonia, Ixia, and Crocus; but almost every genus contained in the order has showy flowers, and is consequently well known in gardens. The leaves are generally thin, long, and flat, with the edge towards the stem, and the flowers are produced from spathes; the perianth is also in six segments coloured alike, the calyx and corolla being in most cases confounded together. The genus Iris has generally tuberous or solid bulbous roots, of the kind called corms, and the perianth of the flower is divided into six segments, three of which are larger than the others; these three larger segments, which form the calyx, (see _a_ in _fig._ 148) are reflexed, and a stamen springs from the base of each, which reclines upon it, with its anther turned from the rest of the flower, the segment, in many species, having a kind of crest or beard near the base, as though it were intended to form a cushion for the stamen to repose on, while over each stamen is spread, as a kind of coverlid, a stigma (_b_) which is dilated so as to resemble a petal. The petals (_c_) often stand erect, and were called by Linnæus the standards. The seed-vessel, which forms below the flower, is a three-celled capsule, opening, when ripe, by three valves, and containing numerous seeds. [Illustration: FIG. 148.—FLOWER OF THE IRIS.]