Tab. 5402. 



MUSA sapientum ; var. vittata. 



Common Plantain ; striped-leaved var. 



Nat. Ord. Musacejj.— Polygamia Moncecia. 

 Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tab. 5223-4.) 



MlJSA sapientum, Linn. ; excelsa, perennis, caule cylindrico basi stolonifero, 

 foliis breviuscule petiolatis, petiolis longissime vaginantibus lineari-oblongis 

 acutiusculis basi obtusis v. cordatis, costa valida viridi, spadice nutante 

 bracteato, spathi9 densifloris ovato-cymbiformibus obtusis purpureis raas- 

 culis deciduis, perigonio labio minore retuso longe mucronato, superiore 

 lobis brevibus recurvis, fructu glaberrimo. . 



Var. vittata; foliis fructibusque albo-vittatis. 



Musa vittata. W. Ackerman, ms. in Van Houtte, Flor. des Serres, t. 1510-1513. 



The remarkable variety of the common Banana here figured 

 was discovered by the late W. Ackerman in the island of St. 

 Thomas, in the Bight of Benin, and by him sent to his employer, 

 M. Van Houtte, of Ghent. At about the same time, that 

 island was visited by Mr. G. Mann, our own energetic collector, 

 by whom fine young plants were sent to the Royal Gardens, 

 where they flowered in June of the present year. Though 

 similar in all essential characters to the common Banana, this 

 forms, especially in its young state, a very striking feature 

 amongst the dark-green foliage of a tropical house ; but, as the 

 plants come to maturity, the colours fade. The fruit in all our 

 plants bears no seed, and there seems little doubt, both from 

 this circumstance and from the information we have received 

 from Mr. Mann, that the variety is a cultivated one, and 

 that the M. sapientum is nowhere indigenous to Africa. It is 

 indeed suggested by M. E. Rodigas, in the ' Flore des Serres,' 

 that M. vittata is a variety of M. Sinensis {M. C/nnensis, Sweet), 

 which is the M. Cavendishii, Paxton, and differs chiefly in stature 

 and habit from M. sapientum. 



SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1863. 



