CHAPTER XIX 



FRUITS 



THE word "fruit " has two uses. Botanically speaking, 

 any structure which contains seed is a fruit. But in 

 more common use the word is applied only to those 

 which are fleshy and edible. This chapter is about 

 fruits in this narrower, more common, sense. 



The Philippines have more fruits than have most 

 countries, and some of them are of excellent quality. But 

 others are not so good as in countries where they receive 

 better care or where better varieties are cultivated. 



BANANAS 



History. By far the most important Philippine fruit is 

 the banana. Almost or quite all of the Philippine culti- 

 vated bananas are forms produced in cultivation from a 

 single species, Musa sapicutuin, which is not positively 

 known except in cultivation. There are many wild 

 species of Musa in this part of the world, and some of 

 these may have given rise to cultivated forms. The 

 banana is a native of Malaya or southeastern .Asia, but 

 history does not tell when it was introduced into all 

 other tropical countries. 



Description. In its stem, flowers, and fruit, the banana 

 is practically like the abaca, except that in all the finer 



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