68 THE NATURALIST IX NICAKAGUA. [Ch. Y, 



thinks that some species of plantain were indigenous to 

 America ; but it seems incredible that such an important 

 fruit could have been overlooked by the early historians. 

 In the old world the cultivation of the banana dates from 

 the earliest times of which tradition makes mention. 

 One of the Sanscrit names was bkanu fruit from which 

 probably the name " banana" was derived.* 



Both the plantain and the banana are always propa- 

 gated from shoots or suckers that spring from the base of 

 the plants ; and it is to be remarked that the pineapple 

 and the bread-fruit, that are also universally grown from 

 cuttings or shoots, and have been cultivated from remote 

 antiquity, have in a great measure lost the faculty of 

 producing mature seed. Such varieties could not arise 

 in a state of nature, but are due to selection by early 

 races of mankind, who would naturally propagate the 

 best varieties ; and, to do this, seed was not required. 

 As the finest kinds of bananas, pineapples, and bread- 

 fruit are seedless, it is probable that the nutriment that 

 would have been required for the formation of the seeds 

 has been expended in producing larger and more suc- 

 culent fruits. We find some varieties of oranges, which 

 also have been cultivated from very early ages, producing 

 fruits without seeds ; but as these trees are propagated 

 from seeds, these varieties could not become so sterile as 

 those just mentioned. There can be no doubt that the 

 seedless varieties of bananas, bread-fruits, and pine- 

 apples have been propagated for hundreds of years ; and 

 this fact ought to modify the opinions generally enter- 

 tained by horticulturists that the life of plants and trees 

 propagated from shoots or cuttings cannot be indefinitely 

 * Humboldt's " Aspects of Nature," vol. ii. p. 141. 



