374 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



anterior to the Conquest. Bancroft * says the Mexicans offered the " fat banana " at 

 the shrine of the goddess Centeotl. Roxburgh * found bananas growing wild on the coast 

 of Coromandel. Hooker ' saw two species wild in the Himalayas. Rumphius and Blanco 

 saw them in the Philippines. Finla3reon found them in the small island of Pulo-ubi near 

 Siam. Cook * and others saw them in Tahiti, and Humboldt mentions the occasional 

 occurrence of wild bananas in the forests of South America. Although the cultivated 

 varieties of banana and plantain are usually seedless, yet some wild species produce seeds, 

 and varieties of the cultivated form occasionally bear seeds. Thus, on the coast of Para, 

 near the Gulf of Triste, and near Cumand, according to Hiunboldt, there are sorts with 

 seeds; as there are at Manila, according to Meyen;' and in Central Africa, according to 

 Burton.* The fruit of these is usually of poor quality. In Calcutta, 1503-08, Varthema ^ 

 mentions 3 kinds of bananas. Firminger,* at the present time names 7 varieties, and 

 Carey ' says the cultivated varieties in Bengal are infinite. In Tahiti, according to 

 Ellis,** not fewer than 30 varieties of bananas are cultivated by the natives. In the Fiji 

 Islands, some 9 varieties are in ciiltivation according to Wilkes." In Cercado, on the 

 Amazon, Castelanu ' says there is an enormous niunber of varieties of bananas. In 

 Central Africa, Grant " names 6 varieties. Ten varieties are given for Ceylon and 30 

 for Burma. 



The garden of Adam in Seyllan (Ceylon), says MorignoUi,'* about 1350, contains 

 plantain trees which the natives call figs: " but the plantain has more the character of 

 a garden plant than of a tree. At first they are not good to eat, but after they have been 

 kept a while in the house they ripen of themselves and are then of an excellent odor and 

 still better taste, and they are about the length of the longest of one's fingers." In Calicut, 

 1503-08, Varthema '^ describes three sorts: " The first sort is called cianchapalon; these 

 are very restorative things to eat. Their color is somewhat yellow, and the bark is very 

 thin. The second sort is called cadelapalon, and they are much superior to the others. 

 The third sort are bitter." The head of the flowers of the variety known as kuntela, 

 before the sheath in which they are enclosed expands, is often cut off, being esteemed a 

 most delicate vegetable. 



> Bancroft, H. H. Native Races 3:351. 1882. 



Roxburgh, W. Ph. Corom. Coast y.j^. 1819. 



Hooker, J. D. Himal. Journ. 1:143. 1854. 

 Cook, Capt. Foy. 3:207. 1773. 



Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 2:152. 1893. Note. 



Burton, F. Lake Reg. Cent. Afr. 316. i860. 



' Jones, J. W. Trav. Varthema. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 162. 1863. 



Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 177-182. 1874. 



'Roxburgh, W. Hort. Beng. 18. 18 14. 

 "Ellis, W. Polyn. Research. 1:59. 1833. 

 " Wilkes, C. U. S. Expior. Exped. 3:333. 1845. 

 " Hemdon, W. L., and Gibbon, L. Explo.'. Vail. Amaz. 1:177. 1854. 

 '" Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 583. 1864. 

 " Cathay, Way Thither. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 360. 1866. 

 "Jones, J. W. Trav. Varthema. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 162. 1863. 



