Maraniacee.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 355 
along the jungly base of the Himalayas, there is a suitable climate, as far north as 30°, 
for this genus; as JZ. Nepalensis is found in Nepal, and a similar species below 
Nahn ; also near Kuerkoolee, a village below Mussooree. This in both places may be 
seen growing apparently in a wild state, and like that of the plant in Nepal, the fruit 
contains little else than the hard dry seeds. The Ensete of Bruce, Mr, Brown. thinks 
may be a distinct species of this genus, and therefore probably indigenous in Abyssinia. 
The most northern latitudes where the plantain is cultivated, are Japan, the Canary 
Islands, the north of Africa, and parts of the south of Europe. 
Baron Humboldt has suggested, that several species of Musa may possibly be 
confounded under the names of Plantain and Banana, and that some of these may be 
indigenous to America: but, as stated by Mr. Brown, nothing has been advanced to 
prevent all the cultivated varieties being derived from one species, Musa sapientum, of 
which the original is the wild Musa, described by Dr. Roxburgh, as grown from seed 
received from Chittagong; Mr. B. further adds, that it ist not even asserted, that the 
types of any of those supposed species of American Banana, growing without cultiva- 
tion, and producing perfect seed, has any where been found. 
The Plantain and Banana therefore must be natives of Asia, and no plants can more 
strikingly display the benefits derivable to one country, from introducing the useful 
productions of another which is similar in climate ; as these are extensively cultivated 
in America, and as high as 3,000 feet of elevation in the Caraccas. The Banana, as 
Humboldt has remarked, is for the torrid zone, what the Cerealia are for Europe 
and Western Asia, or rice for Bengal and China, and forms a valuable cultivation, 
wherever the mean temperature of the year is about 75°. A single cluster often weighs 
nearly ninety pounds: Humboldt has calculated, that in the space of a year, 1,076 
square feet of ground yield more than 4,000 Ibs. of nutritive substance, and that the 
same space will support fifty individuals, which will not maintain more than two when 
planted with wheat. I doubt whether the cultivation has in India attained the limits 
of productiveness ; neither does the plantain appear to be applied to the same variety of 
purposes as in South America. There, besides being used as an article of diet in its fresh 
state, the fruit is also dried, and forms an article of internal trade, besides being 
converted into flour, and made into biscuits. The young shoots are also described as 
being eaten as a delicate vegetable, and sheep are said to be fed upon the herbaceous 
parts. The juice of the unripe fruit, and ‘ the lymph of the stem” are stated by 
Dr. Lindley to be slightly astringent. It has been mentioned to me, that the latter is 
used as a kind of marking-ink in the West-Indies. The species of J/usa are remarkable 
for the number of spiral vessels which they contain; and one species (M1. textilis) yields 
a fine kind of flax, with which a very delicate kind of cloth is fabricated. 
166. MARANTACEZ. 
The Cannee of Jussieu formed a family of plants, which has been divided by Mr. 
Brown into the present and following order. Both resemble Musacee in the parts 
222 of 
