200 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



compound frond of Aiigiopteris evecta or divided leaf of Godwinia 

 Gigas, though the compound leaves of some palms are still larger. 

 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 Plant, the 

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

 duction from the root. 



Musa Livingstoniana, Kirk. 



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

 to M. Ensete ; seeds much smaller. Possibly requiring no protec- 

 tion in favourable places in warm temperate climes. 



Musa paradisiaca, Linne.* 



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 distinguished, 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 the warmer localities of the temperate zone, where under 

 more careful attention they are likely to mature their fruit with 

 regularity. They require rich and humid soil. Plantain meal is 

 prepared by simply reducing the dried pulp to powder. It is pala- 

 table, digestible, and nourishing. M. sapientum, L., the ordinary 

 Banana, or Sweet Plantain, is a variety. It is one of the most im- 

 portant plants yielding nutritious delicious fruits. The stem is 

 spotted. Bracts green inside. The leaves and particularly the 

 stalks and the stems of this and other species of Musa can be utilised 

 for producing a fibre similar to Manilla hemp. The fruit of this is 

 used chiefly unprepared ; it is generally of a yellow colour. Nu- 

 merous varieties are distinguished. As much as a hundredweight 

 of fruit is obtained from a plant annually in tropical climes. At 

 Caracas, where the temperature is seldom much above or below 60 

 F., the plantain and banana plants are very productive, being loaded 

 with fruits 12 to 15 inches long, on mountains about 5,000 feet 

 high. In the dry Murray regions of South-East Australia the 

 winter temperature seems too low for the successful development of 

 these plants except on sheltered spots, but bananas still ripen under 

 the shelter of limestone cliffs as far south as Swan River in West 

 Australia. Requires infinitely less care within its geographic lati- 

 tudes than the potato ; contains along with much starch also protein 



