THE BANANA. 45 



which have been rubbed off. As a fruit, it is not much liked 

 in this country, and probably will not be worth importing 

 after the popular curiosity is satisfied. They have been sold 

 in the Liverpool fruit-market at twopence each. 



The Banana, Musa sapientum, and the Plantain, Musa 

 paradisiaca. (Nat. Ord. Mitsacecs.) 



Tropical fruits, produced by magnificent palm-like trees, 

 the stems of which grow often more than twenty feet in 

 height, bearing on their summits clusters consisting of eight 

 or ten large leaves, which are from three to five or even six 

 feet in length, and rounded at each end; they are about 

 eighteen inches in width throughout their whole length, 

 and are of a beautiful emerald-green colour. These leaves, 

 the noblest borne by any known plant, are placed at the end 

 of long stout petioles, the bases of which form the stem ; the 

 dried leaves form ihatch for the Indian cottages, and serve 

 the natives for many other economic purposes. 



The fruit of both species is extensively used as food by 

 the natives of the tropics, throughout which these trees are 

 widely distributed. They are natives of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, the South African Islands, and the islands of the 

 Indian Archipelago. The flower-spike arises from the centre 

 of the tuft of leaves ; it consists of an immense number of 



