INTRODUCED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 257 



along the streams. In the forest they are easily recognized by their dark-green 

 leaves and waxy-red or deep-crimson fruits, which are as large as apples and 

 are borne twice a year in great profusion. In the market the fruit is of such 

 attractive appearance that the watery, insipid flavor comes at first as a disap- 

 pointment; however, the curious cooling property of the fruit compensates for 

 what it lacks in flavor. It bruises easily in handling and is but little iised, 

 except occasionally in making sweet pickles. The tree occurs on all the larger 

 islands of the Pacific and is highly esteemed by the natives for its fruit. The 

 fragrant flowers were formally the favorite haunts of several of the native birds, 

 which were caught in the branches by the use of bird lime. While the tree 

 grows here and there in the city of Honolulu, it is by no means common, and 

 must be seen in its native habitat to be appreciated at its full worth as a forest 

 tree. 



PoiIA. 



Tlie poha, cape gooseberry, or gi-ound cherry," is a spreading shrub belong- 

 ing to the great tomato family. It bears yellow berries in a bladder-like calyx, 

 and grows quite common on mountain slopes throughout the group, especially on 

 Hawaii and Maui. The fruit is edible, has a pleasant flavor and when cooked 

 makes an excellent jam. In this form it has established a place for itself in 

 Hawaii at the head of the list of preserves. It is only occasionally seen in the 

 market in the raw state, and as it is mostly gathered from the wild plants, it is 

 usually hiyh in i)iice. The plant is said to be a native of Brazil, but has long 

 been naturalized in Hawaii. As it is only one of some thirty or more known 

 species, it is quite possible that it would be wortli while to introduce other species 

 for cultivation. 



Bananas. 



The banana is a conspicuous and valuable plant everywlicre in the tropics. 

 The striking bunches of fruit, and its broad, bright-green leaves occupy a promi- 

 nent place in the ornamental foliage about almost every home in Hawaii. The 

 banana is impoi-tant among the commercial fruit-bearing plants of the islands. 

 If we accept the broadest u.se of the term, the word banana includes all of the 

 species and innumerable varieties of the genus Musa. This genus, which is 

 supposed to have been named for Antonius Musa, a phy.sician to Augustus the 

 Great, belongs to the order Scitaminacece, to which also belong several genera, 

 including many well-known plants found growing in Honolulu gardens — such 

 conspicuous ornamental plants as the traveler's palm or traveler's tree,^ the 

 Canna and ginger '^ being among them. The original home of the banana is 

 thought to have })een southern Asia. Doubtless it has been long ages under 

 cultivation, and in very early times found its way into Polynesia. For this 

 reason it is thought that the wild, or native banana, or maia, found growing 

 everywhere in the mountain vallevs, even in the most remote districts of the 



' Ravenala MmUiijas 



