260 : MONOEPIGYNER. 
siaca) and the Banana (M. sapientum ) belong to this family. 
Their fruit is very agreeable, and is much used as an artiel 
of food in tropical countries. They produce a very gr 
quantity of fruit, and are plants of the greatest importance - 
to the natives all over the torrid zone. “ The Plantain is 
certainly one of the most delicious of all the Indian fruits 
and one of the safest for such as have delicate stomachs, be- 
ing entirely free from acidity; it is moreover very nourish- 
ing, and is always prescribed as food, by the Hindoo practi- 
tioners, for such as suffer from bile and heat of habit.” 
“ The Plantain and Banana are the principal fruits of 
Eastern islands ; unripe, they are sliced and made into eur- 
ry, when they taste like potatoes.” —Ainslie, i. 316-7. Hum- 
boldt calculates that the produce of the Banana is to that 0: 
Wheat, on the same extent of ground, as 133 to 1, and to 
that of Potatoes as 44 tol. With respect to its nutritive 
power the Banana is inferior to Wheat, but when the im- 
mense quantity of produce is considered, its nutritious mat- 
een ae oe tee 7 te 1. 
ORDER XXVII. 
CITAMINE. 
a eeiaing along with Marsntacees die Canne, Juss. ; Amomee, 
Rich ; or Drymyrrhize, De Cand. 
Canora —_Horbossous plants with a creeping root: 
simple, sheathing, and alternate leaves. Inflorescence a dens 
icle or spike, accompanied by large membranous apathas 
Calyx tubular, unequally 3-lobed. Corolla tubular, irregu- 
with six segments in two rows, 3 outer segments near] 
equal, and 3 inner, of which two are equal and occasionally 
-abortiv and a third (labellum) is longer than the rest, a 
eee, » inserted into the tube of the coroils 
