MusA. 257 



blooms the flowers should be fertilised, to induce them to 

 seed more freely, as after fruiting the plant dies. It is 

 only in a few places suflScient house room can be given 

 this plant to ftdly develope itself, but good large plants can 

 be easily accommodated for the decoration of the sub- 

 tropical garden during summer, and it stands the tempera- 

 ture of the conservatory in winter without injury. Native 

 of Abyssinia. 



M. sapientum. — ^A tall-growing kind, reaching some 

 twenty feet or more in height. The leaves are oblong, 

 from eight to ten feet long, and a foot wide, of a deep 

 green colour. There are an immense number of varieties 

 of this species, differing iu size and in the quality of the 

 fruits. The best we ever saw was a red-stemmed form 

 from Jamaica, which produced in this country a splendid 

 cluster of fruits, • weighing upwards of 60 lbs., and of a 

 most delicious flavour. 



M. sa/giemtum var, vittata. — This is an elegant variety of 

 the preceding species, growing under good cultivation to 

 about the same height. The leaves have a bright green 

 ground, which is beautiftilly striped and blotched with 

 white. Its fruit is not edible, but the beauty of its varie- 

 gation fully compensates for that deficiency. It was dis- 

 covered at some considerable elevation ia the Isle of St, 

 Thomas, Western Africa. 



M. swp&fba. — A very distinct and handsome plant, but 

 requiring strong heat and a very moist atmosphere to 

 develope its beauties. Ia a young state it is not very 

 different in appearance from M. sapientum and its varieties, 

 but as its leaves increase in size, the stem becomes swollen 

 . towards the base, and the whole plant assumes more the 

 appearance of a grand compact form of M. ensete, though 

 from this plant it is abundantly distinct. M. superha is a 



