204 THE BANANA 



can judge whether a young shoot is capable of bearing 

 fruit or not, and this gives them an immense advantage 

 in selecting only such shoots as are worth the trouble of 

 planting." 



Stanley, in " Darkest Africa," refers to specimens of 

 plantains that were "22 in. long, 2j in. in diameter, and 

 nearly 8 in. round, large enough to furnish even Saat 

 Tato, the hunter, with his long-desired full meal." 



Stanley also says that he found a clearing beyond 

 Yambuya in the great forest, "three miles in diameter, 

 abounding in native produce. Almost every plantain 

 stalk bore an enormous bunch of fruit, with from 50 to 

 140 plantains attached." He mentions several other 

 places where the plantain groves were extensive. 



SOUDAN. The Abyssinian banana (Musa Ensete) is 

 a native of damp valleys in Abyssinia, extending through 

 the Soudan up the Nile Valley almost to the Equator. 

 The fruit contains scarcely any pulp, but is full of large 

 black seeds. The flower -stalk, before it has " shot " or 

 emerged from the top of the trunk, is the portion of the 

 plant that is eaten when cooked, and it is said that, 

 prepared in this way, it resembles the cabbage of a palm. 

 The same part of the plant in wild bananas is used in India. 



The Nandi tribe of the East Africa Protectorate crush 

 the seeds of a native species of Musa, and use the flour as 

 food. The flour has been examined at the Imperial 

 Institute,* and reported to have much the same com- 

 position as wheat flour, though it contained rather less 

 proteins and rather more carbohydrates (chiefly starch). 

 It is pointed out, however, that the preparation of a 

 satisfactory flour on a commercial scale from these seeds 

 would present considerable difficulty. 



CANARY ISLANDS. Dr. G. V. Perez of Puerto Orotava, 

 Teneriffe, to whom the author is indebted for specimens 

 and information about sports of the Canary banana, has 

 contributed the following notes to the Gardeners 1 Chronicle : 



" Of the many species which have long been known in 

 * Butt. Imp. Inst., x. 569 (1912). 



