Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 307 
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
Feb. 14, 1850.—Professor Fleming, in the Chair. 
Mr. M‘Nab exhibited the flowering rachis with terminal bracts of 
the red-fruited variety of Musa sapientum, and stated that the plant 
in the Botanic Garden was received from Mr. Lockhart, Botanic Gar- 
den, Trinidad, during the year 1842. It had frequently ripened its 
fruit in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. The plant which produced 
the rachis shown was only twenty months from the sucker state when 
it first showed its fruit in May 1849. It continued to ripen gradually 
till the end of December, when a few of the first, or best ripened of 
the fruits, were gathered. The rachis, from the point to its insertion 
into the plant, was 6 feet long, and produced five matured clusters 
averaging 8-9 Ibs. each in weight, and each having fifteen perfect 
and well swelled fruits. Besides the five perfect clusters, it had two 
imperfect ones, with fifteen immature fruits, varying from | to 3 inches 
long. The fruiting plant is 14 ft. 6 im. in height above the tub, ex- 
clusive of its leaves, which are 10 ft. long and 2 ft. 6 in. broad; the 
stem is 35 inches in circumference at its base. The weight of the 
head of fruit, when in its perfect state, was estimated at from 75 lbs. 
to 80 lbs. The plant is one of the largest in cultivation, and also one 
of the most prolific, the fruit ripening successively over a period of 
two months. 
Mr. M‘Nab made the following report of plants in flower in the 
Botanic Garden, &c. :— 
Feb. 8. Rhododendron dauricum in flower, sparingly, in Botanic 
Garden. 
9. Eranthis hyemalis in flower in Dr. Neill’s Garden. 
11. Galanthus nivalis in flower in Botanic Garden—Gentiana 
verna flowering in a cold frame in Dr. Neill’s Garden. 
14. Galanthus plicatus in flower in Botanic Garden. 
14. Tussilago fragrans, Helleborus fetidus, Primula veris, P. 
vulgaris, Eranthis hyemalis, Garrya elliptica, Arbutus 
Unedo, Viburnum Tinus, Cydonia japonica, and cultivated 
varieties of Viola tricolor, in flower in Botanic Garden. 
14. Helleborus odorus and H. atro-purpureus in flower in Expe- 
rimental Garden. 
14. Hepatica triloba and Corylus Avellana in flower in Dr. Neill’s 
Garden. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. ‘‘ Notice of some of the rare Plants observed in Orkney during 
the Summer of 1849,” by John T. Syme, Esq. (See p. 266.) 
2. “On the Embryogeny of Hippuris vulgaris,’ by John Scott 
Sanderson, Esq. (See p. 259.) 
3. “ Account of an Excursion from Simla to the Burenda Pass, 
and other parts of the Himalaya, in July and August 1847,” by 
Lieutenant Robert Maclagan, Bengal Engineers, Principal of the 
College of Civil Engineers, Roorkee, North-West Provinces of India. 
The author of this paper left Simla on the 10th of July 1847, and 
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