Tab. 7627. 



MUSA Bakeei. 



Native of Cochin- China ? 



Nat. Ord. Scitamine^e.— Tribe Musejb. 

 Genus Musa, Linn. ; (Benth. & Eook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 655.) 



Musa (Enmnsa) Bakeri; caule 10 pedali cylindrico basi stolonifero, folm dis- 

 tincte petiolatis elongato-oblongis facie viridibus dorso pallidis basi 

 inajqualibus leviter rotundatis vel subcaneatis, spicis brevibus cernms, 



- bracteis omnibus persistentibus vacuis lanceolatis flonfens lnfenonbus 

 oblongis dorso rubro-brunneis intense glaucis intus sanguinis, flonbus 

 masculis unaqnaeque bractea 9-12, biseriatis, calycis dentibus brevibus 

 obtusis apice cucullatis 2 exterioribus dorso oornutis cornu erect o 6 

 intermediis umbonatis centrali ceteris majore, petalo calyce dimidio 

 breviore oblongo albo apice 3-lobo, lobo intermedio cuspidate, filamentis 

 flavis rubro striatis recurvis staminodiis in fl. fem. cuspidatis, iructu 

 immaturo acute trigono stigmate!globoso. 



M. Bakeri, SooJc.f. in Sort. Kew. 



The present plant flowered for the first time in the palm- 

 stove of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in October, 189a ». It 

 was received from the Jardin des Plantes at Paris in 1890. 

 There is some doubt as to its native country, which M. 

 Cornu believes to be Cochin-China. It belongs to the 

 ff roup of M. sapientum, from which it differs mainly by 

 its short spike and brightly coloured bracts, which resemble 

 those of M. rosacea, Jacq., which forms a link "of connec- 

 tion between the sections Eumusa and RhocUchlamys 

 M. rosacea is a much smaller, more slender plant, with 

 narrower bracts, few flowers in a cluster, and a linear petal 

 as lone: as tne united sepals. 



Descr.-Stem ten feet high, and eight to ten inches in 

 diameter at the base, cylindrical, green, stoloniferous 

 Leaves distinctly petioled, elongate-oblong, seven feet long 

 by two feet broad, bright green on the *VV** **«*<»' P£° 

 green beneath, unequal, rounded or Bub-ouneate ^ the 

 base; petiole two feet long. 8p*B ^'j^™^' 

 sterile bracts lanceolate; lower flonferous bract, oblong, 

 half a foot long, reddish-brown, and intensely glaucous 

 on the outside, bright crimson side. Male flowers nine 

 to twle in a cluster, distinctly bisenate ; sepals united 



December 1st, 1898. 



