364 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



The Plantain — {Musa paradisiaca) . 



The Banana — Musa sapientum. 



The Banana is a shorter and rounder fruit than 

 the plantain : the stem is also different, — that of the 

 plantain being: wholly screen, while the banana is 

 spotted with purple. The banana is not so luscious 

 as the plantain, but it is more agreeable. 



Having: thus observed the slig:ht differences in these 

 plants, we shall proceed to their general character ; — 

 in which notice we shall confine ourselves to the use 

 of the word banana. 



The banana, as we have indicated by the heading 

 of this chapter, is not the property of any particular 

 country of the torrid zone, but offers its produce 

 indifferently to the inhabitants of equinoctial Asia and 

 America, of tropical Africa, and of the islands of the 



