402 THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA TREES. 



tions at Manilla, but I could never see it during 

 my visit to that country. 



Finlayson gives the following interesting in- 

 formation respecting the wild Plantain tree, 

 found on the island of Pulo Ubi, off the southern 

 extremity of Cambodia. 



"We had," he says, "the good fortune to 

 find that splendid herbaceous plant in flower : 

 unlike, however, to that luscious and most de- 

 licious fruit raised by the hand of man, the fruit 

 of the wild Plantain contains scarce any pulp 

 whatever. Its leathery sheath incloses numerous 

 series of large black seeds, attached to a pithy, 

 central stem, and immersed in a gummy sub- 

 stance resembling bird-lime. 



" It appeared, by our systematic works, that 

 the seeds of this most useful plant have been but 

 rarely seen by botanists ; hence doubts had been 

 expressed upon the subject. In none of the cul- 

 tivated varieties are there any seeds discoverable ; 

 though, at times, we may observe minute black 

 points in the pulp, disposed in longitudinal rows. 

 These are, probably, the feeble traces of seeds 

 not yet quite extinguished by cultivation, the 

 black perisperm being the last to disappear. 

 The seeds were numerous, covered with a thick, 

 black, brittle shell, and as large as those of the 

 custard apple, but of a more irregular shape. 



