Tab. 7182. 

 MUSA Basjoo. 



Native of the Liu-Kiu Archipelago. 



Nat. Ord. Scitamine.e. — Tribe M usem. 

 Genus Mcsa, Linn.; (Benth. et Hooh.f. Gen. PL, vol. iii. p. 655.) 



Musa Basjoo ; caudice cylindrico elongato, foliis paucis oblongis viridibus 

 8-9-pedalibus petiolo crasso pedali marginibus ad basin alatis, pedunculo 

 crasso patulo subpedali, floribua in spicam densam subcernuam aggregates, 

 bracteis oblongis subcoriaceis brunneis, floribus foemiaeis biseriatia 

 12-15-nis bracteis deciduis, masculorum bracteis arete imbricatis per- 

 sistentibus, petalo ovato acuminato caljce breviter quinquedentato vix 

 breviori, fructu oblongo-trigono. 



M. Basjoo, Sieb. & Zucc. in Verhand. Batav. Genoot. 12 deel. (1830) p. 18 

 {name only) ; Franch. & Savat. Enum. Plant. Jap. vol. ii. p. 20 tin note) ; 

 So Mokou Zoussetz, vol. iii. tab. 1 ; Kurz. in Journ. Agric. Hort. Soc. Ind. 

 N.S. vol. v. p. 164. 



M. japonica, BTort. Veitch; Beo. Hort. 1889, p. 401. 



The present plant has entirely the habit and general 

 characters of Musa sapientum, but differs from all the very 

 numerous forms of the cultivated Plantains and Bananas, 

 botanically, by having a petal nearly or quite as long as 

 the spathaceous calyx, and climatically by being able to 

 flower and fruit under a lower temperature. The plant 

 from which our drawing and description were made 

 flowered freely and developed its fruit to full size, but 

 without ripening, in the large temperate house at Kew, 

 side by side with Musa Ensete. In identifying it with 

 Musa Basjoo I rely mainly upon the figure in the 80 

 Mokou Zoussetz, as neither Siebold and Zuccarini, nor 

 Franchet and Savatier give a description. It is said to 

 be a native of the Liu-Kiu Archipelago, which stretches 

 from Japan nearly down to Formosa, and to be cultivated 

 frequently in the south of Japan for the sake of the fibre 

 of its leaves, like M. tcxtilis in the Philippine Islands. It 

 was introduced from Japan into cultivation in Eng- 

 land, by Messrs. Veitch, through their collector, M. 

 Maries. Plants of it were grown for several years 

 in the open air in their nursery at Coombe Wood. Our 



July 1st, 1891. 



