154 A FLORA OF MANILA 



1. MUSA Linnaeus 



Very coarse herbaceous plants from usually perennial roptstocks. Trunks 

 ■erect, soft, formed of the thickened, closely imbricate leaf -sheaths. Leaves 

 very large, oblong, the midrib prominent, the blade pennineryed. Inflor- 

 escence terminal in an erect or reflexed ^bracteate spike, the lower flowers 

 female with imperfect stamens, the upper ones male, the intermediate 

 ones often perfect. Flowers crowded in the axils of large, ovate, persistent 

 or deciduous bracts. Calyx slit down one side to the base, 3- to 6-lobed 

 .at the apex. Corolla equalling' or shorter than the calyx, concave, inflated, 

 thin, more or less surrounding the stamens and style. Perfect stamens 5, 

 the sixth rudimentary or wanting; filaments stout; anthers linear, erect, 

 2-celled. Ovary 3-celled, ma:ny-ovuled. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, elongated, 

 -cylindric or angled, the pericarp tough; seeds subglobose, in many cultivated 

 forms wanting. (Named after Mus'a, physician to Augustus.) 



Species 50 or more with many varieties, in the tropics of both hemi- 

 spheres, the Philippine forms not well understood. 



1. M. PABADisiACA L. Saguing (Tag.) ; Banana. 



Rootstock stout, s,toloniferous, the stem stout, erect, 1.5 to 3.5 m high. 

 Leaves up to 2 m in length. Spike recurved, stout, much shorter than the 

 leaves, the bracts large, dull-purplish, deciduous. Flowers about 7 cm 

 long, the calyx about twice as long as the much inflated corolla. Fruit 

 exceedingly variable, 10 to 20 cm long, cylindric or angled, the pericarp 

 thick or rather thin, seedless or with numerous seeds. (Fl. Filip. pi. 

 88, 89.) 



Very commonly cultivated, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines, 

 probably of prehistoric introduction here, at least many of the forms or 

 varieties, others of more recent introduction. Cultivated in all, tropical 

 countries. 



The banana has numerous varieties, the distinguishing characters being 

 chiefly in the fruits. Commonly among the natives saguing is the name 

 for all bananas, but the Spanish name platano or plantano is much used 

 to designate those forms especially used for food after being cooked, and 

 banana for the forms used for food without cooking. 



Blanco in 1837 states that there were then 57 varieties known in the 

 -Archipelago. The various varieties have distinctive names, the chief forms 

 found in Manila being enumerated below. 



Sabd, Bisco, or Obispo; the most common form in cultivation in Manila, 

 the fruit with a thick skin, yellow when mature, about 10 cm long, prom- 

 inently 3-angled; pulp somewhat fibrous, acid, with or without seeds. 

 Bungulcm; fruit' elongated, cylindric and green when mature, up to 20 cm 

 in length, the pulp soft with a very delicate flavor. Gloria or Temate; 

 fruit angular, yellow, stout, up to 15 cm or more in length, well-flavored. 

 Letondal; fruit stout, cylindric, about 10 cm long, the skin thin, yellow, 

 the pulp pale, subacid, the most common banana in the Manila markets. 

 Lacatan; fruit cylindric or slightly angled when mature, about 15 cm 

 long, yellow, the pulp firm, with a delicate flavor. Morado, fruit stout, 

 usually angled when mature, up to 15 cm long, the skin tough, brownish- 

 purple, the pulp firm, well-flavored. Other forms are occasionally found: 



Musa textilis Nee, the well-known abacd plant, an endemic species 

 yielding the fiber known as abaca or Manila hemp is represented by few 

 .-specimens in cultivation in Singalon. The very large Musa superba Roxb., 



