FLORA OF THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 213 
one and the same individual plant so mucli, in tlicir sliape, number of veins, degree of hairiness, and 
colour, that no specific characters can possibly be derived from them ; and as for the female porigonal 
scale, upon which Klotzsch insists as an important specific character, that amounts, as fer as I am able to 
judge, to very little indeed. In the first place, Klotzsch only describes that .-^ule in the diagnoses of two 
species of Pistia, and in the second the actual distinction between these two consists iu this :— in one so- 
called species it is bilobedj and in the other Lurdatc at the base : as a cordate shape is only ono in which 
the two lobes are shorter than in the bilobed form, it follows that even this character is merely a relative, 
not an absolute one, and consequently of little specific importance. 
NAJADE.E. 
910. PoTAJiOGETOx pecthiatus, Linn., Kuntli, Euum. vol. iii. p. 137. Stagnant waters near 
Panama. 
CANNACE.E. 
941. Thalia yeniculata, Linn. Syst. Veg. (ed. Pars.) p. 51. In swamps from Chagres (Feudler, 
no. 338) to Panama. 
943. Maranta arundinacea, Linn. Syst. Veget. (ed. Pers.) p. 50. In sunny places, about Panama. 
MUSACE^. 
943. Heliconia psittacomm, Linn. Syst. Veg. (ed. Pcrs.) p. 257. In shady places^ from 
Chagres (Fendler) to Panama. 
944. MusA paradisiaca, Linn. Syst. Veg. (ed. Pcrs.) p. 942. — Nomen vemacul. " Platano." 
Extensively cultivated for tlie sake of its fruit. 
945. MusA sapientum, Linn, Syst. Veg. (ed. Pers.) p. 943. — Nomina vernacul. "Banana" et 
^^Guineo." Cultivated on a large scale on accoimt of its edible fruit. 
The question whether the Plantain and its kindred are indigenous or Dot to the N-jw World has 
hitherto formed a topic of discussion for historians rather than for naturalists, and no satisfactorj' conclu- 
sion has as yet been arrived at. Some incline to the former, others to the latter opinion ; and again, a third 
party thinks, that while some species are indigenous, others have been introduced from other quarters of 
the globe. Eobertson, following Wafer and Gumilla, classes the Plantain among the native productions of 
America, because it was found by the latter two authors far in the ulterior of that continent, and in the 
hands of Indians who had little or no communication with the Spanish Creoles. But as both "Wafer and 
Gumilla travelled a number of years after Columbus's discovery, and as we kiiow that many plants, even 
some less useful than the difierent Musas, were disseminated with the utmost rapidity over the territories 
of the New World, the proofs adduced by the great Scotch historian are insufficient. Prcscott seems to 
look upon the Plantain as introduced, but thinks that it is not mentioned in the works of Iloruandez. Yet 
Hernandez does mention the Plantain; he even informs us that it was brought to Mexico from foreign 
parts, as will be scon from the following account, transcribed from his Hist. Plant. Nov. Hispan. Libr. vol. iii. 
p. 172.— "Arbor est mediocris, familiaris calidis regionibus Imjus nova; Hispaniro, vocatur a quibusdam re- 
centiorum Musa. Polia sunt valde longa et lata, adeo ut hommis supercnt saepenumcro magnitudinem ; 
fructus racematim dependent incredibili numero et magnitudine, cucumerum crassorum et brovem forma, 
