BANANAS 117 



Observe that all these are cultivated plants, and that seed- 

 bearing varieties of the same species occur in each case. 

 The seedless varieties appear, as it were accidentally, in 

 cultivation, and are carefully saved and propagated ; 

 most people prefer fruits which have no seeds. How can 

 a seedless plant be propagated ? 



The banana is properly a berry, because it has no regular 

 bursting-lines, and because it is filled with a pulp, in which 

 the seeds, if there are seeds at all, are imbedded. The 

 seeds of berries, such as currants or grapes, can only escape 

 by the digestion or rotting-away of the outer wall of the 

 fruit. 



The shape of the banana is peculiar ; it is curved and 

 four-sided (sometimes five-sided). Do the four sides (let 

 us call them four) indicate that number of compartments 

 in the fruit ? You cannot make out any compartments 

 by cutting the fruit across, but if you strip off the rind, 

 you will find six strings, which are really bundles of 

 vessels, running lengthwise along the outside of the pulp. 

 The six strings answer to the midribs and united edges 

 of three carpels, and show us that the four sides cannot 

 really indicate as many compartments. How then did 

 they come there ? I will not tell you, but if you study 

 the shape of the fruit carefully if you remark that it 

 has a convex and a concave side, and that the concave 

 side is narrower than the convex side you must be rather 

 dull if you cannot see why the fruit is four-sided. 



The great flower-spike which you know is at first in- 

 closed in a sheath, which afterwards falls off and allows 

 the fruits to expand. 



How do we know that the banana-fruit proceeds from 

 a flower with an inferior ovary ? Here again a very little 

 sagacity will suffice. An apple or orange is an inferior 

 fruit, and has a scar at the top as well as at the bottom. 

 A cherry or plum is a superior fruit, and has no scar at 

 the top. Is the banana like the apple or the cherry in 

 this respect ? 



