Naturalisation in Extra-Tropical Countries. 287 



BXusa corniculata, Rumph.* 



Insular India. Fruits as large as a good-sized cucumber ; skin 

 thick ; pulp reddish -white, firm, dry, sweet ; an excellent fruit for 

 cooking [Kurz]. The Lubang- variety is of enormous size. 



HXusa Ensete, Gmelin. 



Bruce's Banana. From Sofala to Abyssinia in mountain-regions. 

 This magnificent plant attains a height of about 30 feet, the leaves 

 occasionally reaching the length of fully 20 feet, with a width of 

 3 feet, being perhaps the largest in the whole empire of plants, 

 exceeding those of Strelitzia and Bavenala, and surpassing even in 

 quadrate -measurement those of the grand water-plant Victoria 

 Regia, while also excelling in comparative circumference the largest 

 compound frond of Angiopteris evecta, or the divided leaf of Grod- 

 winia Grigas, though the leaves of some palms are still larger in 

 circumference. 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-Palm, 

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

 duction from the root. It is probably the hardiest of all species, 

 enduring slight frosts. 



IVIusa Living stoniana. Kirk. 



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

 to M. Ensete ; seeds much smaller. This superb plant requires no 

 protection in favorable places in warm temperate climes, as it 

 advances in its native country to elevations of 7,000 feet. This 

 and a Musa of Angola, like M. Ensete, form no suckers. 



IVIusa paradisiaca, Linne.* 



The ordinary Plantain or Pisang. Continental and Insular India. 

 Among the most prolific 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 warmer localities of the temperate zone, where under 

 careful attention they are likely to mature their fruit with 

 regularity. They require rich and humid soil. All kinds demand 

 when in continued culture, heavy manuring, to come to the best 

 development. Plantain-meal is prepared by simply reducing the 

 dried pulp to powder ; it is palatable, digestible a.nd nourishing. 

 M. sapientum, L., the ordinary Banana or Sweet Plantain is a 

 variety. In Java the Pisang-variety is grown up to 4,000 feet 



