LEADING FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 349 



The banana plant (Fig. 284) is herbaceous, though in the 

 most favorable soil and climate it may reach a height of forty 

 feet. The leaves grow to be as much as ten feet long and two 

 feet wide, and are usually, when full-grown, slit into strips by 

 the wind. The fruit (technically a berry) is produced in long 

 spikes, each bearing a hundred or more bananas. As a result 



FIG. 284. Gathering bananas in Costa Rica 

 Photograph furnished by United Fruit Company 



of long cultivation the fruit has become seedless, and the plant 

 is propagated by suckers from the base. There are two edible 

 species, running into about 176 varieties, cultivated every- 

 where in the tropics for their fruit. Another species, grown in 

 the Philippines, is an important fiber plant, yielding " Manila 

 hemp." 



The annual imports of bananas into the United States now 

 amount to about 40,000,000 bunches, while in 1872 the total 



