CHAPTER VII 



FRUITS {continued) 



The Banana.— A/2/j<2 sapientum. The Plantain.— J/^^j^ 

 sapientum var. paradisiaca 



Of all the vegetable productions of the world, the banana 

 is, perhaps, in regard to magnificence combined with utility, 

 the most wonderful. Its grand, herbaceous so-called stem, Description 

 composed of the succulent leaf-stalks rolled one over the ^J^^ 

 other, and its splendid crown of enormous light green leaves 

 radiating from the centre— from which issues the bunch of 

 fruits gracefully curving downwards, make it one of the 

 glories of the tropics. The fruit of the plantain supplies food its uses. 

 for multitudes of people, indeed it is " to the inhabitants of 

 the torrid zone, what bread and potatoes are to those of the 

 north temperate zone." It is rich in those substances neces- i^^ nutrient 

 sary for the nourishment of man, and it has been said that qualities. 

 a pound of plantains contains '' more nutriment than three 

 pounds of meat, whilst as a food it is, in every sense, 

 superior to the best wheaten bread." But not only is it so 

 valuable in regard to its nutritious qualities, it is also the 

 most prolific of all the food plants known. Humboldt, the its fruitful- 

 great German traveller and naturalist, calculated that thirty- "^^**- 

 three pounds of wheat and ninety-eight pounds of potatoes 

 require for their growth the same space of ground as will 

 produce 4,000 pounds of bananas. 



