8 CIT AMINES. 443 



V 



V^ 



Willd. The Siam and Chinese gingers are therefore identical, 



and both are the produce of Aljpinia galanga, WilkL Fharm. 

 Joum., Jan 31st, ] 891. 



MUSA PARADISIACA, Linn. 



Fig,— JKoajJ. Cor. PL UL, if. 275; Eheede, Hort. Mah i. 

 tt. 12—14. Plantain {Eng.)y Bananier (Fr,). 



Hab, — Cultivated throughout India. Thefruit, leaves and 



stems. 



Vernacular, — Kela (Hind 



{Mi 



Vazhai-pazham {Tam.)^ Anati-pandu, Amti-pandu {Tel), Bdli 

 (Can,). 



History, Uses, &C. — The cultivated plantains are called 

 Kadali in Sanskrit, and tlie wild plantains, wticli, we believe, 

 to be their progenitors, Aranya-kadali and Eambha. There 

 are many synonyms, such as Bhanupbala or Ansumatphala 

 " having luminous fruit," Charupbala "having delicious fruit," 

 Rajeshta ''liked by kings," Yana-laksbmi "beauty of the 

 woods," &c. "We think there can be little doubt that the 

 plantain has been under cultivation in India from prehistoric 

 times. The Greeks under Alexander must have become 

 acquainted with it ; Theophrastus and Pliny describe a tree 

 called Pala, with leaves like the wing of a bird, three cubits in 

 length, which puts forth its fruit from the bark, a fruit 

 remarkable for the sweetness of its juice, _a single one (bunch?) 

 containing sufficient to satisfy four persons ; this tree is sup- 

 posed to have been the plantain. The word pdla signifies 

 " leaves," but we are not aware of its ever having been applied 

 to the plantain. The Arabs call it Mauz and Talk, and under 

 the latter name it is mentioned in the Koran— c^i^J^ I o 5=:^ I j 



^jAijo UJs , ^jwai* j'i*»(y *(^i*i-" v^"*' *'* (and the com- 



-x^ J '2.^'^ J 



ght hand, happy compamons 



among Lotus trees free from thorns, and plantams with their 

 lapping clusters of fruit). 



Under the name of Mauz, Mesne describes the fruit as useful 

 in soreness of the throat and chest with dry cough, and in 



