6 THE BANANA 



consists of a cylinder composed of concentric layers (Fig. 2)> 

 each of which may be traced up to a leaf the outermost to 

 the oldest leaf and which are, in fact, the lower portions 

 of the leaves adapted for the special protection of the 

 younger leaves and the flowering stalk. The true stem 

 or " bulb " (properly a tuberous rhizome) is the store- 

 house of food, which may be used in the formation and 

 growth of roots and leaves, but is chiefly of use to the 

 plant in the production of suckers and in the development 

 of the flowering shoot and the fruit. If a sufficient supply 

 of food is not stored up in the bulb when the flowering 

 shoot is in process of formation, the bunch will only bear 

 a few " hands." Insufficiency of stored material may be 

 due to various causes ; the roots may not have been able 

 to do their work properly, the leaves may have been 

 damaged, or new suckers may have been allowed to drain 

 the parent. 



In the wild state, when the fruit of a particular plant 

 has ripened and dropped, or in cultivation, when the bunch 

 is cut, the life of that individual is practically over ; it 

 does not bear fruit again, but it gives help to the suckers 

 which may be attached to it. Any food left in the leaves 

 passes down into the bulb, and they gradually dry up. 

 The old bulb lasts for some time ; it is connected by a 

 large surface with the bulbs of its suckers, and bundles 

 of fibres pass from one to the other. By means of this 

 connexion the younger bulbs draw upon the resources 

 of the parent bulb, slowly and gradually exhausting it of 

 its remaining store. 



THE LEAVES 



The most striking features about the banana plant are 

 its rapid growth, its early maturity, and the enormous 

 amount of food produced in proportion to the area 

 occupied.* These are accounted for by almost the whole 

 plant being composed of leaf-structure. 



* Banana, 242,000 Ibs. of food per acre ; potatoes, 4000 Ibs. ; wheat, 

 2000 Ibs. 



