190 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



the genus, attaining a height of 70 feet ; it produces a strong 

 and compact timber, of wonderful endurance underground, 

 hence in demand for posts and railing ties (General Harrison) . 



Mucuna Cochinchinensis, Bentham. (Macranthus Cochinchinensis, 



Loureiro.) 



A climbing annual, which can be reared in the open air in 

 England. Pods, cooked as a vegetable, like kidney beans 

 (Johnson.) 



Musa Cavendishii, Lambert.* (Musa regia, Rumph ; Musa Chin- 



ensis, Sweet ; Musa nana, Loureiro.) 



The Chinese Banana. A comparatively dwarf species, the 

 stem attaining only a height of about 5 or 6 feet. Its robust 

 and dwarf habit render it particularly fit for exposed localities, 

 and this is one of the reasons why it is so extensively cultivated 

 in the South Sea Islands. The yield of fruit is profuse (as 

 much as 200 to 300 fruits in a spike), and the flavour excellent. 

 This, as well as M. sapientum and M. paradisiaca, still ripens 

 its fruits in Madeira and Florida. 



Musa corniculata, Rumph.* 



Insular India. Fruits as large as a good-sized cucumber ; skin 

 thin ; pulp reddish white, firm, dry, sweet ; an excellent fruit 

 for cooking (Kurz). The Lubang variety is of enormous 

 size. 



Musa Ensete, Gmelin. 



Bruce's Banana. From Sofala to Abyssinia, in mountain 

 regions. This magnificent plant attains a height of 30 feet, 

 the leaves occasionally reaching to the length of 20 icet, 

 with a width of 3 feet, being perhaps the largest in the 

 whole empire of plants, exceeding those of Strelitzia and 

 Ravenala, and surpassing even in quadrate measurement those 

 of the grand water-plant Victoria Regia, while excelling in 

 comparative circumference also the largest compound frond of 

 Angiopteris evecta or divided leaf of Godwinia Gigas, though 

 the compound leaves of some palms are still larger. The inner 

 part of the stem and the young spike of the Ensete can be 

 boiled to serve as a table esculent, but the fruit is pulpless. 

 This plant produces no suckers, and requires several years to 

 come into flower and seed, when it dies off like the Sago Plant, 

 the Caryota Palm, and others, which flower but once without 

 reproduction from the root. 



