320 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Macgillivray]. The American " fruit-drier " can advantageously be 

 employed also for the exsiccating of bananas. Mr. W. Reynolds, 

 of Daintree-River, Northern Queensland, has of late years success- 

 fully started banana-drying for export to the European markets. 

 It is the small-fruited variety, which is especially eligible for this 

 purpose ; thus prepared it rivals dried figs, raisins and dates on the 

 dessert-table. Bananas are sure in future to enter largely into the 

 general food-supply also of colder zones through increased celerity 

 and cheapness of steam communication. As a staple food the 

 plantain is in the hotter zones even more important than the 

 banana. An admirable essay on the various species of Musa, 35 

 in number, is contained in Dyer's " Kew Bulletin" for August, 1894, 

 partly from the writings of Mr. J. G-. Baker. 



Musa. simiarum, Humph.* (M. corniculata, Humph ; M. acuminata, Colla). 

 From Malacca to the Sunda-Islands. About half-a-hundred 

 marked varieties of this species, called mainly Pisangs in India, are 

 under cultivation there, especially on the Archipelagus, while M. 

 sapientum occurs wild more frequently on the mainland. Though 

 the latter is principally cultivated on the Indian continent, yet it 

 never equals in delicacy the cultivated forms of M. simiarum, the 

 fruit of which sometimes attains a length of 2 feet [Kurz]. 



Musa textilis, Nee.* (M. Mindanensis, Humph.) 



Philippine-Islands. This species furnishes the widely utilised 

 Manilla-rope fibre ; the plant was introduced first into Australia 

 by the author, and may thrive in sub-tropic regions. It likes 

 volcanic forest-land. Much of the fibre is exported to America for 

 paper. About 1 Ib. of fibre is annually obtained from each plant 

 [Simmonds]]. 



Musa troglodytarum, Linne". (M. uranoscopos, Rumph.) 4 



India, perhaps indigenous also in the Fiji- and other islands of 

 the Pacific Ocean. The fruit-stalk of this species stands upright ; 

 the edible fruits are small, reddish or orange-coloured ; pulp gamboge- 

 yellow, mawkish-sweet [Kurz]. M. Fehi (Bertero) from Polynesia 

 is an allied species. The Chinese M. coccinea (Aiton), a dwarf 

 ornamental species, has also the fruit-spike erect. 



Mutisia viciifolia, Cavanilles. 



From Chili to Bolivia. This shrubby climber has, through Dr. 

 Sacc, come recently into medicinal use for treatment of phthisis 

 [Prof. Naudin]. 



Myoporum insulare, R. Brown. 



Extra-tropical Australia. A tree, up to 40 feet high. Mr. J. P. 

 Eckert remarks that it can be used as a hedge-plant, can be propa- 

 gated from cuttings, which attain a height of 10 feet in two years. 



