DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES OF MUSA 275 



free petal about J in. long, with broad wings which form 

 lateral lobes at the apex, the median lobe long cuspidate. 

 Fruits 100-150, forming a spherical conglomeration, each 

 fruit about 4 in. long, 2 in. thick. Seeds black, 10-20, 

 about f in. long, J in. broad, embedded in the pulp. Male 

 flowers and bracts deciduous. Uluguru, German East Africa. 



50. M. nepalensis Wall. Trunk 5 or 6 ft. high, cone- 

 shaped, 2 ft. in diameter at base. Like M. superba, but 

 leaves narrower, somewhat glaucous, and without stalks, 

 passing gradually into bracts. Inflorescence short, showy, 

 clavate, drooping. Bracts large, ovate, many- flowered, dull 

 purple. Flowers in two rows, 7-8 to a bract. Perianth 

 yellowish white, three-cleft ; free petal obcordate with a 

 large mucro shorter than the calyx. Fruit and seeds as 

 in M. superba. 



51. M. ventricosa Welw. Whole plant 8-10 ft. high 

 Trunk 4 ft. in diameter at base, not suckering. Leaves of 

 thick texture, 4-5 ft. long, bright green with a pale red 

 midrib. Inflorescence drooping. Perianth entire, not 

 cuspidate. Free petal entire, J in. long. Seeds large, 

 angular. Angola. 



52. M. Buchananii Baker. Nearly allied to M. Ensete, 

 but the bracts are linear-oblong, 1-1 J ft. long. Flowers 

 ten in a cluster. Shire Highlands. 



53. M. Davyce Stapf. (in Kew Bulletin, 1913, p. 103) 

 Trunk 30-40 ft. high. Leaves 12-17 ft. long. Bracts 

 oblong, about 1 ft. long and 5 in. broad. Flowers about 

 15 to each bract. Perianth about 1 in. long, linear* the 

 two petals not united in the middle ; free petal less than 

 half as long, three-lobed. Fruit 3-5 in. long, yellow; 

 pulp scanty. Seeds few, greyish brown. Transvaal and 

 Portuguese East Africa. Fruit not edible, but fibre used 

 by the natives. 



54. M. Livingstonlana Kirk. Trunk conical, twice the 

 height of a man, 2-3 ft. in diameter at base. Leaves 

 crowded, as long as the trunk. Fruit 4 in. long, many- 

 seeded. Eastern tropical Africa from 12 to 19 south 

 latitude, ascending to 7000 ft. altitude. 



