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allied plants unnoticed, as they will endure our cliine in the 

 warmest localities of the colony, where under more careful 

 attention they are likely to mature with regularity their 

 fruit. They require rich and humid soil. Plantain meal is 

 prepared by simply reducing the dried pulp to powder. It 

 is palatable, digestible and nourishing. 



Musa sapientum, L. 



The ordinary Banana or Sweet Plantain. India. One of 

 the most important plants yielding nutritious delicious 

 fruits. The stem is spotted. Bracts green inside. The 

 leaves and particularly the stalks and the stems of this and 

 other species of Musa can be utilized for producing a fibre 

 similar to Manilla Hemp. The fruit of this is used chiefly 

 unprepared ; it is generally of a yellow color. Numerous 

 varieties are distinguished. As much as a hundredweight 

 of fruit is obtained from a plant annually in tropical climes. 

 At Caracas, where the temperature is seldom much above or 

 below 60° P., the Plantain and Banana plants are very pro- 

 ductive, being loaded with fruits 12 to 15 inches long, on 

 mountains about 5000 feet high. In our dry Murray re- 

 gions the winter temperature seems too low for the suc- 

 cessful development of these plants, except on sheltered 

 spots. 



Musa troglodytarum, L. (M. umnoscopos, Eumph.j 



India, and apparently indigenous also in the Peegee and 

 other islands of the Pacific Ocean. The fruit-stalk of this 

 species stands upright ; the edible fruits are small, reddish 

 or orange-colored. The Chinese M. eoccinea, Ait., a dwarf 

 ornamental species, has also the fruit-spike straight. 



Myrica Faya, Aiton. 



Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands. A small tree. The 

 drupaceous fruits are used for preserves. M. sapida, 

 "Wallich., an Indian mountainous species, has also edible 

 fruits. 



Myrtus Ugni, A. Gray. 



The Chilian Gruava. A hardy shrub, freely bearing its small 

 but pleasantly aromatic berries. 



