

IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 199 



compact timber, of wonderful endurance underground, hence in 

 demand for posts and railway ties (General Harrison.) Fruit edible, 

 sweet, large. 



Mucuna Cochinchinensis, Bentham. (Macranthus Cochinckinensis, 



Loureiro.) 



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

 England. Pods, cooked as a vegetable, like kidney beans (Johnson). 



Muehlenbergia diffusa, Willdenow. 



Southern States of North America. Perennial. Recorded among 

 the good native fodder-grasses of Alabama by C. Mohr, thriving as 

 well on dry hills as in low damp forest-ground. 



Muehlenbergia Mexicana, Trinius. 



Southern-North America. A perennial good foodder-grass, particu- 

 larly fit for low humid ground. 



Murray a exotica, Koenig. 



South Asia, Polynesia, East and North Australia, This shrub or 

 small tree is one of the best among the odoriferous plants in India 

 (C. B. Clarke). 



Musa Cavendishii, Lambert.* (Musa regia, Humph ; Musa Chinen- 



sis, 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. sapien- 

 tum and M. paradisiaca, still ripens its fruits in Madeira and Florida, 



Musa corniculata, Humph.* 



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 feet, 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 



