DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES OF MUSA 273 



numerous, about J in. long, brown, rough with tubercles. 

 Sarawak. Related to M. violascens. 



44. M. borneensis Becc. (Nelle Foreste di Borneo, 622). 

 Very like the common banana in size and general ap- 

 pearance. Inflorescence pendulous. Flowers 5-8 in one 

 row. Male flowers about 3 in. long; perianth gradually 

 narrowing to the three-lobed apex, lateral lobes slenderly 

 cuspidate ; free petal f as long as perianth, shortly acute. 

 Fruit about 6 in. long by about 1J broad. Seeds obpiri- 

 form, nearly J in. long, rough-tuberculate in the upper 

 half. Sarawak. Belongs on account of single row of 

 flowers to the section Rhodochlamys, but is not nearly 

 related to any of the species. 



III. SPECIES OF SUBGENUS PHYSOCAULIS : 45 to 66 



45. M. Ensete Gmel. Whole plant 30-40 ft high. 

 Trunk rises to a height of 13 to 20 ft., not suckering. 

 Leaves bright green with a bright crimson midrib, 20 ft. 

 long, 3 ft. broad. Inflorescence erect. Bracts 9-12 in. 

 long, densely overlapping, ovate, dark claret brown. 

 Flowers whitish, more than twenty in a cluster. Perianth 

 1J-2 in. long, three-lobed; free petal short, three-lobed. 

 Fruit dry, 2-3 in. long. Seeds 1-4, black, glossy, nearly 

 1 in. broad. Mountains of Abyssinia southward to hills 

 south of Lake Victoria Nyanza. Native name " Ensete." 

 It was discovered by the traveller Bruce, and is represented 

 on ancient Egyptian sculptures. The flowering spike, 

 before it has emerged, is much used as food by the Gallas 

 and other tribes ; also the young heads. It is the most 

 hardy of all the cultivated species, growing freely in the 

 open air in the Mediterranean region. This species is well 

 adapted for sub-tropical countries, such as California, 

 Florida, Algeria, and Canary Islands, and is often put out 

 for the summer in the London parks. When established 

 in sheltered situations, it is a very ornamental plant, having 

 a noble and majestic habit. 



46. M. Holstii K. Schum. (Engl. Jahrb., xxxiv. 121, 



