in Extra- Tropical Countries. 223 



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 (even as much as 200 to 300 

 fruits in a spike), and the flavor excellent. General Sir John Lefroy 

 saw bunches of 80 Ibs. weight produced in Bermuda, where the plant 

 bears fruits all the year round. This, as well as M. sapientum and M. 

 paradisiaca, still ripens its fruits in Madeira and Florida. The spe- 

 cific name, given by M. Loureiro, is entitled to preference. All 

 Musas are grand honey-plants. 



Musa corniculata, Rumph.* 



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

 thick; 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 about 30 feet, the leaves 

 occasionally reaching the length of fully 20 feet, with a width of 3 

 feet, being perhaps the largest in the whole empire of plants, exceed- 

 ing those of Strelitzia and Ravenala, and surpassing even in quad- 

 rate-measurement those of the grand water-plant Victoria Regia, 

 while also excelling in comparative circumference the largest com- 

 pound frond of Angiopteris evecta or the divided leaf of Godwinia 

 Gigas, though the leaves of some palms are still larger in circum- 

 ference. 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- 

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

 reproduction from the root. It is probably the hardiest of all species, 

 enduring slight frosts. 



Musa Livingstoniana, Kirk. 



Mountains of Sofala, Mozambique and the Niger-regions. Similar 

 to M. Ensete; seeds much smaller. This superb plant requires no 

 protection in favorable places in warm temperate climes, as it 

 advances in its native country to elevations of 7,000 feet. This and 

 a Musa of Angola, like M. Ensete, form no suckers. 



Musa paradisiaca, Linn<$.* 



The ordinary Plantain or Pisang. India. Among the most pro- 

 lific of plants, requiring the least care in climes adapted for its growth. 

 Stem not spotted. Bracts purple inside. In this as well as M. 

 Cavendishii and M. simiarum, new shoots are produced from the root, 

 to replace annually the fruit-bearing stem. The fruit of this is often 

 prepared by some cooking process. Very many varieties are distin- 

 guished, and they seem to have sprung from the wild state of M. 

 sapientum. The writer did not wish to pass this and the allied plants 

 unnoticed, as they will endure the clime in warmer localities of the 



