sapientnm is the name of the common banana of our markets, 

 and of this there are many cultivated varieties. In the true M. 

 sapientnm, of which there are specimens in the collection, the 

 fruit is large and yellow, and the stem and leaves green ; while 

 in the variety champa the stem and midrib of the leaves is red 

 and the fruit more of an orange color when ripe. The Chinese 

 dwarf banana, Musa Cavendishii, .from China, is a much smaller 

 species, rarely exceeding five or six feet in height, and with 

 much smaller fruit. Musa sebrina, with its slender stems and 

 leaves marked with dark red, is decidedly ornamental. In most 

 of the bananas the inflorescence is pendulous, while in others 

 it is upright ; of the latter kind are Musa coccinea, from south- 

 ern China, with red bracts, and Musa ornata, from the East 

 Indies, with purple ones. Bananas are largely cultivated in all 

 tropical countries. In Florida the fruit is raised to a consider- 

 able extent. Most of the fruit that comes to our market, how- 

 ever, is from northern South America, Central America and 

 Jamaica. Another banana, also of commercial importance, is 

 Musa textilis, from the Philippines ; from the base of the petioles 

 of the leaves is derived a fiber which is the well-known Manila 



Closely related to the genus Musa is Heliconia. A large 

 plant of H. latispatha forms, when in flower, a conspicuous 

 object in this group, its long bright red bracts making it very 

 showy. 



The genus Strelitda, confined to southern Africa, is present in 

 two species, 5. Nicolai and 5. Reginae. The latter is quite com- 

 mon in cultivation and is known as the queen's-bird-of-paradise- 

 flower, its gaudy flowers doubtless suggesting this name. The 

 other species, 5. Nicolai, is much more imposing, attaining a 

 trunk of considerable height. The flowers of the latter are white 

 and blue, and usually appear between January and March. An 

 account of the first flowering of this plant here may be found 

 in the Journal for April, 1903, under the title, " Interesting 

 Plants in Bloom." 



The famous traveler's tree, Ravenala Madagascariensis, from 



