266 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



is marked with purple spots, and the fruit is shorter, more cylindrical, of a 

 dark greenish-red color, and 2 to 2^ inches in diameter, and has a more deli- 

 cious taste. 



There are many varieties of this species, differing in size and quality of the 

 fruit. It is held by some botanists that the species M. troglodytarum, a 

 native of the Molucca Islands, is the parent of all the cultivated species and 



varieties. But it is 

 also held that the M. 

 sapientum answers all 

 the conditions of a 

 parent. 



Geographij. — The 

 geographical distribu- 

 tion of the banana and 

 plantain is very wide, 

 extending all around 

 the globe, between 38° 

 north latitude and 35° 

 south latitude. A 

 mean temperature 

 above 64° Fahrenheit 

 is necessary to its ex- 

 istence, and it does 

 not fruit freely where 

 the temperature falls 

 below 40°. It is found 

 in the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, China, Cochin 

 China, and Hindustan. 

 It grows in Australia 

 and the islands of the 

 Pacific, in Madagas- 

 car, and on the west- 

 ern shores of Africa. 

 It also adorns the gar- 

 dens of the Morea, of 

 Sicily, and the south 

 of Spain. In the New 

 World it is grown 

 in Mexico, Central 

 America, Colombia, 

 Peru, northern Brazil, 

 Guiana, and in the 

 greater part of the West Indies. Recently it has been introduced into the 

 gardens of southern Florida and Louisiana. 



Etymologij. — The name musa is said to come from the Arabic mouz. It is 

 also said to have been given by Plumier, a French botanist, in honor of Musa, 

 a celebrated physician of Rome, who cured Augustus Casar of a disease which 

 had been pronounced by the imperial practitioners incurable ; for which ser- 

 vice the emperor knighted him. The specific name sapientum is due to the 

 circumstance that in India the leaves grow to a great height, and its groves 

 were a favorite resort for sages (sapientes), who were accustomed to repose 



Musa pakadisiaca (Yellow Banana). 



