828 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



Mostaza. See Jlrassica juncea. 



Mucuna gigantea. Same an Stizolobium giganleum. 



Mucuna pruriens. Same as Stizolobium pruriens. 



Mudu-murung-a (Ceylon). See Sophora tomentosa. 



Mug-wort. See Artemisia ndgaris. 



Mulberry, Indian. See Morinda citrifolia. 



Miiniutun ( ( J uam ) . 



A general name in the island vernacular for rank-growing weeds. Cassia tora is 

 called mumutun palaoan (female weed) or minniitun adamelon. The name mumutun 

 chiva (goat weed) is applied to a low, small-flowered composite; mumutun lalie 

 (male weed) to an ill-smelling hispid, blue-flowered labiate, with cordate leaves; and 

 mumutun sable (sword weed) to Cassia occidentalis. 

 Mung (India). See Phaseolus mungo. 

 Mungg-o (Philippines). See Phaseolus mungo. 



Musa paradisiaca. PLANTAIN. BANANA. PLATE xxn. 



Family Musaceae. 



LOCAL NAMES. Chotda (Guam, for the plant and green fruit); Aga (Guam, for 

 the ripe fruit); PI atari o (Spanish); Saguing, Pisang (Philippines); Fa'i 

 (Samoa). 



Bananas were growing in Guam before the discovery of the island by Magellan. 

 Pigafetta describes them in his narrative as " figs a palm long."^' Usually the numer- 

 ous varieties are grouped under two heads. Those of smaller size, which are sweet 

 and which may be eaten raw, are called bananas and have often been considered a 

 distinct species, Musa sapientmn; the larger ones, which are less sweet and more 

 starchy, and which must be cooked before they are fit to eat, are called plantains, 

 and are considered by some to constitute the species Musa paradisiaca. At least eleven 

 varieties are recognized in Guam, some of which were undoubtedly introduced after 

 the discovery. Schumann, in his monograph, regards M. sapientum as a subspecies 

 of M. paradisiaca. b 



Among the varieties noticed by Gaudichaud were chotdan c patgon, a small banana 

 of tine flavor; chotdan lago ("foreign banana"); chotdan tonduke, a giant plantain, 

 probably introduced from the Philippines, where it bears the name of "tondok," 

 having few fruits on a raceme, but these of great size, and having also a strong fiber 

 which is usid for cordage and for weaving into fabrics; and three forms of aga, as 

 the ripe fruit is called: Aga Sumay (a variety cultivated first in the village of that 

 name), aga mahalang, and aga langiii. In the last edition of Blanco' s Flora Filipina 

 the large plantain called tondok is called Musa (.ornlctdata i/iagna. Its fruit is often 

 more than a foot long and when cooked has a fine apple-like flavor. 



Bananas are easily propagated by suckers, which spring up from the base of the 

 old plant when the fruit begins to ripen. When two or three bananas at the top of 

 the bunch turn yellow the bunch should be cut off and hung up by a string in the 

 house, when the rest will gradually ripen. Only one bunch is borne by a plant; but 

 as suckers spring up from the underground rootstalk, the life of the banana may be 

 said to be continuous. In Guam bananas grow almost spontaneously. In Plate 

 XXII is shown a plantation of them along the road leading from Agana to the port. 



The fruit may be prepared for exportation either by cutting it into strips or slices 

 and drying it, or by making it into flour. In the first case ripe bananas are used. 



(f Primo Viaggio intorno, 1800. 



fcMonograp.'i Musaceae, p. 20, 11-00. 



c The letter n appended to the generic term chotda, takes the 'place of the ligature 

 r <t in the language of Gu:un. In the ^ame way the termination riy is used in Philip- 

 pine dialects in piacv c.f the ligature nyL See p. 114. 



