174 



PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE 



varieties of banana the seeds are reduced to mere specks. 



In some varieties, however, as in the one called latandan 



in Manila, a few large seeds are sometimes found. 



Uses. The banana has various 

 uses. The broad leaves are used 

 for wrapping in place of paper; 

 they are also used as dishes. The 

 juice is used as an astringent and 

 to fix dyes. After the fertile 

 flowers have blossomed, the stam- 

 inate flowers at the end of the 

 cluster, with their bracts and 

 fleshy stem, are cut off and 

 cooked, and eaten as a fresh vege- 

 table or as a salad. 



Varieties. There are many va- 

 rieties of bananas. A. M. Ellis, 

 teacher in Leyte, has found more 

 than sixty different ones in that 

 island alone. They differ in the 

 size and appearance of the plants, 

 in the time which they take to ma- 

 ture, and in the size, shape, color, 

 texture, flavor, and uses of fruit. 



They also differ in the conditions under which they will 



thrive. Many of them are very local, and others have 



different names in different places. 



The favorite varieties for eating raw are the long green 



ones, spotted when ripe, called bongulan in Manila, and 



FIG. 114. Bunch of latandan 

 bananas 



