372 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Murraya exotica Linn. Rutaceae. Chinese box. 



Asia and Australian tropics. The fruit is red and edible.* 



M. koenigii Spreng. curry-leaf tree. 



A tree of tropical Hindustan, cultivated for its leaves, which are used to flavor curries. 

 The leaves are aromatic and fragrant and, with the root and bark, are used medicinally. 

 Prom the seeds, a medicinal oil called zimbolee oil is extracted.* 



M. longifolia Bltmie. 



Java. The fruit is edible.* 



Musa chinensis Sweet. Scitamineae. Chinese dwarf banana. 



China. This very delicious plantain, says Firminger,* is of a rich and peculiar flavor. 

 The fruits are borne in enormous bunches, each fruit about lo inches long, of moderate 

 and uniform shape and thickness, and when ripe are pea-green in color. The bananas 

 are exceedingly difficult to obtain in perfection, as they are imeatable until quite ripe, 

 and on becoming ripe, commence almost immediately to decay. This variety, in 1841, 

 was grown in abundance for the table of the King of France at Versailles and Menton. 

 In 1867, yoimg plants of this dwarf banana were sent to Florida from the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and now they may be seen quite generally in gardens 

 there. It is quite frequently fruited in greenhouses, being of easy culture and man- 

 agement. Hawkins,' 1593, saw small, round, plantains, " green when they are ripe " in 

 Brazil. 



M. ensete J. F. Gmel. abyssinian banana. 



Tropical Africa. The fruit is dry and inedible, containing a few large, stony seeds, 

 but, says Masters,* the base of the flower-stalk is cooked and eaten by the natives. 

 Unger ' says the fruit is not palatable and is rarely eaten, but the white, marrowy portion 

 of the young stems, freed from the rind and cooked, has the taste of the best wheat bread 

 and, dressed with milk and butter, supplies a very excellent, wholesome diet. The plant 

 occurs even in the Egyptian antiques and seems to have been more widely distributed 

 at an earlier period than at the present. There are large plantations of it at Maitsha 

 and Goutto. The tree grows about 20 feet high and is a striking ornament in our best 

 conservatories. 



M. maculata Jacq. banana. 



Mauritius Islands. The fruit is very spicy and of excellent flavor. This is a tender 

 banana not profitable for cultivation above south Florida.' 



' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:585. 1831. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Boi. 1:136. 1870. (Bergera konigii) 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:585. 1831. 



'Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 181. 1874. 



Hawkins, R. Voy. So. Seas 1593. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 50, 93. 1847. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:765., 1874. 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Of. Rpt. 352. 1859. 



Van Daman U. S. D. A. Pom. Bid. No. 1:37. 1887. 



