266 THE BANANA 



Trunk wanting. Rhizome covered with successive frills 

 of the lower persistent leaf -sheaths. Leaves about 1 ft. 

 long. Inflorescence under 1 ft. long, erect, dense. Fruit 

 hairy, oblong, three-angled. Seeds 4-6 in each cell. 

 Rocks in mountains of Yunnan, China, 4000 ft. altitude. 

 " Rock banana." 



7. M. glauca Roxb. Trunk 10-12 ft. long, 6-8 in. in 

 diameter, not suckering. Leaves 4-5 ft. long, pale and 

 glaucous, shortly stalked. Inflorescence drooping from 

 the base. Perianth about 1 in. long, with three loosely 

 coherent, linear segments. Free petal small, three-cuspi- 

 date. Fruit oblong, 4-5 in. long, Ij in. in diameter. 

 Seeds smooth, globose, nearly black, in. in diameter. 

 Pegu. 



8. M. Nagensium Prain (Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. Ixxiii. 2, 

 p. 22, 1904). Trunk 20 ft. and more, suckering. Leaves 

 10 ft. long, glaucous beneath. Inflorescence drooping. 

 Bracts oblong-lanceolate, lower 8-10 in. long, 4 in. broad, 

 uppermost 6-7 in. long, nearly 3 in. broad, " Indian red " 

 outside, bright shining orange inside, each enclosing 18-20 

 flowers in two rows. Perianth orange-coloured, 2^ in. 

 long, J in. broad, four-lobed ; free petal ovate-lanceolate, 

 over 1 in. long, acute. Fruit angled, 5-6 in. long, stalked, 

 not recurved. Seeds nearly J in. long, J in. broad. Naga 

 Mountains, Assam. 



9. M. Wilsonii Tutcher (Gard. Chron., 1902, pt. 2, 450). 

 Plant 10-12 ft. high. Trunk conical, 5 ft. long to lowest 

 leaves, 15-16 in. in diameter at base. Leaves, including 

 stalk, 10-12 ft. long by 2-2 J ft. broad. Inflorescence 

 drooping, 3 ft. long, 15 in. in diameter at base, 4-5 in. 

 at apex. Bracts, all persistent, lower 1 ft. long, lanceolate, 

 upper much shorter, ovate, at first green, becoming brown. 

 Flowers 15-20 in two rows. Perianth nearly 2 in. long, 

 three-lobed ; free petal short, three-cuspidate, with a large 

 linear central cusp. Fruit with sweet pulp, 3J-4J in. 

 long, nearly Ij in. broad at apex but narrowing much to 

 base, yellow. Seeds about twenty, black, about J in. 

 in diameter. " Elephant's Head." Yunnan, China. 



