65 



Musa Sapientum. Ivinn. (West India Banana.) Very 

 similar lo the above but not attaining the same height, and its 

 bunches only contain about one half the number of fruit the 

 plantain produces. The flowers and the fruit ripen all the 

 year round; a tree flowering in April will produce a bunch of 

 fruit fit to cut in from ninety to one hundred days, whilst one 

 flowering in November will require one hundred and fifty to 

 one hundred and sixty days. There are several other kinds, 

 namely; the red banana, l,M. rosacea), the fig or thum banana 

 (M. picata), and the dwarf (M. Cavendishii. ) The collection 

 of bananas at the Jamaica Experimental Station contains 

 thirty-five species. The fruit bunches of the several kinds 

 average from fifty to seventy-five pounds. In Bermuda suffi- 

 cient attention is not given lo the cultivation of the banana. 

 Natural Order, Bromeliaceae. 



Tillandsia Usneoides (Spanish moss. ) A peculiar parasite, 

 hanging down from the branches on which it grows, like a 

 tuft of long gray hair, somewhat, although in a much more 

 profuse way, like certain lichens in European forests. In the 

 cypress and cedar swamps of the Southern States of America 

 it presents a weird, sombre and funereal appearance. It is only 

 to be seen in a few gardens here, a fine specimen growing in 

 front of a small co.ttage, east of Pembroke hall; at the Flatts, 

 below Orange Grove, another fine specimen may be seen. 

 When powdered and mixed with lard, it has curative powers 

 for piles. 



Naural Order, Haemodoraceae. 



Sanse^deria Guineensis, or Zealaudia. Willd. (bowstring 

 hemp. ) A plant throwing out long, strap shaped leaves from 

 eight to eighteen inches or more and some four or five inches 

 wide. At times they lie prostrate, at other times they are 

 erect, all strong, tough and sturdy, mottled, not unlike the 

 back of a snake. Flower stem short, and flowers white. A 

 garden curiosity, but it is found outside of plantations, al- 

 though not common. 



Natural Order, Irideae. 



Sisyrinchium Bermudiana. Ivinn. (Bermuda "iris," or 

 blue-eyed grass.) A plant with stem eight or nine inches high. 



