c 226 MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. 



69. Musa paradisiaca. — Plantain Tree. 



Sapientu.m. — Banana. 



troglodytarum. — Wild Plantain. 



The plantain tree is cultivated on a very extensive scale in 

 Jamaica. The fruit is the chief support of the inhabitants. 



The leaves are six or eight feet long, and from two to three 

 feet broad. The flowers are from a spatha, and are covered 

 with purple deciduous calyces. The fruit or plantains are 

 about a foot long, round, and a little bent. When ripe, they 

 grow yellow, soft, and sweet. The seeds are larger than 

 mustard, dark coloured, and numerous ; they never vegetate ; 

 the tree is propagated by shoots. 



Plantains are cut when full grown, but before they are 

 ripe. The green skin is pulled off, and the heart is roasted 

 in a clear fire for a few minutes, and frequently turned : it is 

 ihen scraped, and served up as bread. Boiled plantains are 

 not so palatable. 



The banana-tree bears a smaller fruit than the plantain. 

 It is never eaten green ; but when ripe it is very agreeable, 

 either eaten raw, or fried in slices as fritters. 



Plantains and bananas are eaten by all ranks of people in 

 Jamaica ; and but for plantains the island would scarcely be 

 habitable, as no species of provision could supply their place. 

 Even flour, or bread itself, would be less agreeable, and less 

 able to support the laborious Negro, so as to enable him to 

 do his business, or to keep in health. 



Plantains also fatten horses, cattle, swine, dogs, fowls, and 

 other domestic animals. 



The wild plantain has no fruit eatable. The leaves of all 

 the species are nearly alike ; and as they are smooth and 

 soft, they are employed as dressings after blisters. 



The water from the soft trunk is astringent, and employed 

 by some to check diarrhoeas. 



