DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES OF MUSA 277 



2j ft. broad. Inflorescence erect. Perianth entire, to 2 in. 

 long ; free petal nearly f in. long, apiculate or cuspidate. 

 Seeds small, somewhat globose. Cameroon. 



60. M. Gilletii De Wild. (Rev. Cult. Colon., viii. 102, 

 1901). Plant 5-8 ft. high, not suckering. Leaves about 

 5 ft. long. Inflorescence drooping, short. Flowers five 

 to six in each row. Free petal three-toothed, nearly J in. 

 long. Fruit about 2 in. long. Seeds nine or ten, about 

 \ in. long. Congo Free State. Seeds used as a fetish. 



61. M. religiosa Dybowski (Rev. hort. 9 1900). Forming 

 a true bulb like M. Gilletii, but differing in having roots 

 I'rom the whole surface of the bulb instead of from the top 

 of the bulb only, as occurs in M. Gilletii. The seeds are 

 of a grey colour, not black. After germination and growth 

 for a few months all the leaves die down, and it is found 

 that a bulb has been formed, which, after a period of rest, 

 starts again into growth, whereas in M. Gilletii the leaves 

 do not die down. The flowers have not been described. 

 The fruit is full of seeds and is not edible. The plant is 

 considered a fetish by the natives of the French Congo, 

 where it is indigenous. 



62. M. Homblei Bequaert ex De Wildeman (Les Bana- 

 niers, 51, 1913). Plant 2J-3| ft. high, not suckering, trunk 

 more or less swollen at the base. Leaves at the middle of 

 the trunk have, instead of a stalk, a sheath, about 8 in. 

 long, which in its lower two-thirds is closely applied to the 

 trunk halfway round it, the upper third bends out horizon- 

 tally and passes into the blade of the leaf, which is about 

 5 in. long, oblong-lanceolate ; the leaves gradually change 

 in character upwards, the limb becoming reduced and the 

 sheath relatively longer but less and less applied to the 

 trunk, passing into bracts. Inflorescence drooping or 

 horizontal, 5 in. long. Bracts numerous, persistent, longer 

 than the inflorescence. Flowers at base hermaphrodite, 

 upper male, lJ-3 in. long, generally five or six in one row, 

 but towards the middle of the stalk with one or two on the 

 outside. Perianth three-lobed ; free petal shorter, three- 

 toothed, middle tooth long, mucronate. Fruit about 1 J in. 



