BOTANY. 375 



M. Fei. Mountain Plantain. We met with this 

 species only at some few of the Society Islands, and at 

 Santa Christina, Marquesas. Its Tahitian name isfet, its 

 Marquesan huitu. It is never cultivated, but grows in 

 great abundance in the moist and sheltered ravines of 

 mountain-lands, forming extensive groves, that are 

 elegantly contrasted with the wild character of the sur- 

 rounding highland vegetation. In growth and size it re- 

 sembles the cultivated species of the lowlands. The her- 

 baceous stalk has, externally, a dark marbled appearance, 

 and its internal pithy structure is loaded with a pink 

 fluid, of very astringent taste. The leaves do not differ 

 materially from those of the common Plantain, except- 

 ing in the arrangement of their nervures. The most 

 remarkable peculiarity in this tree, is the position of its 

 flower-spike, which, instead of nodding over the trunk, 

 as in the plantain of the plains, stands erect in the 

 centre of the crowning tuft of leaves, and has a foot- 

 stalk of sufficient size and strength to support the 

 weighty cluster of fruit in this less convenient position. 

 Each tree bears but one bunch of fruit, of which the 

 average weight is the same as that of the cultivated 

 kinds, although each individual fruit is larger, more 

 obtuse and, when ripe, of a bright-orange colour 5 the 

 pulp is very yellow, and notwithstanding its uncultivated 

 state, contains no fertile seeds.* This fruit, when only 

 just ripe, is acrid and unpalatable in the raw state, and 

 when cooked, is not very agreeable to Europeans ; but 

 when " dead-ripe," it may be enjoyed even in the raw 

 state, and when roasted is a very wholesome and 

 luscious food. These differences lead European naviga- 

 tors in the Pacific, to entertain as many different 



* The wild plantain of the eastern hemisphere has been found to 

 produce large and fertile seeds. 



