214 
BOTANY OF THE VOYAGE Oi" H.M.S. EERALD. 
dulces, moUes atque temperiei proximi, ncc mgrafa nutrimenti. Eduntur hi crudi assive ex vino, atque ita 
sunt gustui jucundi'gria. DifFert fructus magnitudine, et quo minores sunt, eo salubriorea et suaviores. 
(B7 the smaller one he means the Banauas.) Advenam esse aiunt huic novEe Hispanic atque translatam 
ab ^thiopibua aut OrieutaHbus ludiis, quorum est alumna. Caulis et radix, quaj fibrata est, multis con- 
stant membranis, saporis espertibua et odoris, lubricis et frige scentibus, ex quo facile quis conjiciat, quibus 
morbis possint esse utiles." Conclusive as is this statement, both as regards the identity of the plant, and 
Its native country, stiU some may yet entertain doubts, as Hernandez UTote, not at the time of the discovery 
of America, but towards the end of the sixteenth century. There is however another proof that the Plan- 
tfini was introduced. Neither the Quichua nor the Aztec, the two most refined of aU American languages, 
nor indeed any other indigenous tongue of the New World, possesses a vernacular name for this plant. 
Even Hernandez, who collected the Aztec names with the utmost care, could find none, and was compelled 
to phvce, in his great work, the Plantain near the Quauhxilotl {-parmenticra epulis, De Cand.), and call it 
Quaultxilotl altera; the cucumber-like fruit of the Farmentiera appearing to him to form the closest ap- 
proach to that of the Musa. 
ORCHIBE^E. 
(AuctoreH. G. Rekhenbach fil.) 
946. Habenari^ sp. fructifera, Panama, 319. 
r 
947. Stexoiuiuv.nxhus speciosus, Rich. Panama (sine num.). 
948. Vanilla Pompona, Sehiedc ?; folia desunt. Eosdcm flores tcnco ab indefesso Be Warsze- 
W1C2. FoHa contra sine floribus ex Segovia attuHt el. CErsted, qu^ illis Vanilla Pompone^ spon- 
tanea prope duplo majora, 8-9 poUices longa, 4 in medio lata, valde sunt insignia. Nostra : Panama 
1159- ^ 
949. SoBRALiA Fenzliana, Rclib. fil., Bot. Zeit. 1852. p. 714. Panama, on trees. 
950. Oncidiuji altissimum, Smith. On trees, all over the country. 
951. Oncidiuji ampHaUm., Lindl. Panama, on trees. 
953. RoDEiGUEZiA secunda, H. B. K. Panama, on trees. 
953. Trigonidium Seemanni, Echb. fil.; pedunculo prope pcdali subflexuoso pluri(7)vaginato 
vaginis arctis apicibns in basibus snperioribus imbricantibus, scpalo summo a basi Kgnlato-enneata 
dimidio supenon abrupte ovaU acuto, sepalis latcralibus cmieato-oMongis acntis, apice reflexis, tepalis 
h^atis acntis, basi attenuatis, apice (ex latcribus involutis) cucullato-incrassatis, qnam sepala dimidio 
brmonbns, qmntam iUorum latitudinis partem ieqnantibns, labeUo lignlato trilobate, lobo medio 
subcordato acutiuscnlo, per totam paginam eallosnlo, lateribus snis posticis incisuras lobornm latera- 
lum tegente, lobis lateraUbus retnsissimis incisuris iUis minutis efFonnatis, nervis labeUi mcdiis 
bngitndinaliter earmnlato-incraasatis, gynostemio postice apice acuto, antbera . . .-Sepalo supremo, 
petabs ae labeUo recedit ab affinibns T. obtuso, Lindl., ac T. Egertoniano, Bat. Hujis tamen de^ 
cnptio valde manca. Speciem insig^iem indefesso cl. Seemann dicavi. Kara videtiir, eum inter 
copiam Orchideaxum centro-americanarum, qnam teneo, hand amplius occurrat. Panama, 539. 
954. Maxillakia (Xylobium) Slachyobiormn, Rchb. fil., B. Zeit. 1852. p. 735. Panama. 
