THE BANANA FAMILY 167 



"Aird petal of the inner whorl is seated. The five teeth of the 

 floral tube betray its composition. The stamens are ordinarily 

 live'"i-rx - number, the sixth being abortive. Plenty of nectar is 

 secreted from the base of the flower, and bees are often seen 

 swarming about the flowers to fetch the nectar and, in return, to 

 fertilize the flowers. The stamens of the flowers in the eight or 

 more first whorls are sterile, whereas their large pistils, crowned 

 with a clammy stigma, are fertile. Inversely, the pistil is sterile 

 and the stamens are fertile in the flowers at the tip of the spike, 

 which, therefore, are dropped after flowering. 



3. The well-known Fruit is an oblong berry, composed of 

 three carpels tapering at each end, and of a fleshy consistency 

 (fig. 152, 6). The numerous seeds in it are usually not developed. 

 The plant is, therefore, not propagated by seeds. 



With the production of fruit the growth of the plant ceases. 

 The life-time is from nine months to three years, and under 

 good conditions ordinarily about a year. During this short time 

 the Plantain develops into that stately and magnificent plant, a 

 phenomenon which is unique even in the tropics. The plant is, 

 therefore, highly esteemed by the Hindus as the emblem of x:)lenty 

 and fertility, and is, as such, in constant requisition at their 

 marriages and other festivals for ornamenting the entrance of 

 houses and temples. 



Besides the fruit, which is eaten in many ways, and also dried 

 and made into flour, the fibres of the sheaths and of the leaf-stalks 

 are used. Tlie leaves are used by Brahmans instead of plates. 



4. In the life-story of this plant, which has been cultivated 

 for ages, we see a great abnormality. The seeds of the plant are 

 not properly developed. This is the result of man's interference 

 Avith the natural growth of the plant, as can be observed in the 

 wild species, viz-, M. sapientum, or in JShisa stipterba, a plant often 

 grown in gardens for its gigantic, ornamental leaves. The fruit 

 of this kind bears numerous black seeds embedded in very little 

 pulp, which produce healthy plants. By constantly preferring 

 and selecting sorts with richer pulp and paying no attention to 

 the seeds which were useless to man and not necessary for re- 

 production, a variety was eventually obtained which produced 



