422 [ THE BANANA. 



ian banana which has a very tall stem, with the fruit 

 similar to that of our St. Michael's banana, and is greatly 

 esteemed as a dessert fruit, but keeps badly as the ripe 

 fruit drops easily off the bunch and therefore is not suit- 

 abk for export. The same remark applies to the so 

 called Spanish banana (M. sapientum var. rubra] the 

 foliage of which is of the same reddish colour as the red 

 banana of India (Rathkehel), but the fruit is reddish or 

 orange red. 



It is supposed that the original home of Musa Sa- 

 pientum and of its subspecies M. paradisiac a is Southern 

 Asia, or rather the Malayan Archipelago whence they 

 have spread all over the tropical world. Many sorts 

 of edible plantains or bananas are cultivated by the 

 indigenous tribes of tropical Africa, where they often 

 constitute the staple food of those populations, but here 

 also the banana was probably brought over by the first 

 immigrants from Asia. 



MUSA CHINENSIS Sweet, or M. CAVENDISHI Lambert 

 or M. SINENSIS Hort. This is the well known dwarf or 

 Chinese banana, native of Southern China and now 

 extensively cultivated in most tropical and subtropical 

 countries. The stem is only about one metre and a half 

 in height, but is proportionately very thick, clad with 

 leaf sheaths which are broadly and intensely blotched and 

 streaked purplish black. i he leaves are large, very 

 broad, deep green on the upper surface, spotted or 

 splashed claret or deep red in the young plant; the stalk 

 of the leaf is very short and stout, spotted or bloched 

 with purple or purplish black. The bunch is long, often 

 with eight "hands," sometimes with nine or ten. The 

 fruit is middling in size, smooth, curved upwards, yellow 

 or dirty yellow at maturity, with cream coloured melting 

 pulp or flesh, which is sweet and delicate in flavour, and 

 free from all fibrosity. It is an ideal fruit for the table and 

 for export. The plant resists to cold and to the incle- 



