ON THE BANANA AND PLANTAIN. 113 



the fruit ought to be eaten green ; it irritates the throat, is a diuretic, 

 and gives a red tint to the urine. 



Musa lextilis, Nees., the abaca of Amboyna and the Philippines. We 

 shall pay more attention to this species when we occupy ourselves with 

 the textile properties of the different species of bananas. According to the 

 most generally received opinion, the banana originally comes from Asia, 

 the most easterly part of which continent has been called the region of 

 Musas. 



With regard to its geographical distributions, the banana plant is an 

 object of cultivation over an immense zone, which extends, although not 

 continuously, from 38° N. to almost 35° S. latitude. A mean tempera- 

 ture of from 18° to 20° Cent, suits it best, provided, however, the win- 

 ters are not too rigorous. In Cuba the small species are cultivated in 

 situations where the thermometer falls to 7° Cent., and even sometimes 

 almost to zero. The Musa sapientum is satisfied with 18° of mean heat, 

 but the Musa paradisiaca requires at least 20? to 22°, and that, too, 

 only in the climates of equatorial regions. It produces the best crops in 

 a temperature of 24° to 28°. It produces no fruit at 20°, nor at an 

 altitude of more than 3,000 feet in the southern latitudes from to 10°. 

 (Humboldt.) 



In the Cordilleras of New Granada the banana is productive at an 

 altitude of nearly 6,000 feet, but according to Boussingault, the fruit 

 never ripens at an elevation of 7,000 feet. Schomburgk has seen the 

 Musa bearing fruit in British Guiana at 3,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea ; the fruit was magnificent, and would have borne comparison 

 with the finest from Porto Rico. In Hindostan the Musa is cultivated at 

 an elevation of 3,700 to 5,000 feet, at Kamaon and Gurhwal, in the 

 middle of the Himalaya chain. Major Munro found a wild species at 

 Khondah (Neilgherries), at nearly 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Dr. Madden also discovered an indigenous Musa in the Himalaya range, 

 to the north of the province of Assam. 



Asia is, as we have seen, the native country of the banana plant ; 

 many varieties are also found in the Indian Archipelago, China, Cochin 

 China, and Hindostan. On one side of the continent they are spread 

 over Polynesia and, lately, in Australia ; and on the other, in Persia, in 

 Beloochistan, in Asia Minor, as far as Mount Taurus, and in Arabia. In 

 Africa the banana has not the same importance as in Asia and America, 

 except sometimes in Guinea and Madagascar, where many indigenous 

 Musas are cultivated. It is not to be found on the eastern coast, but 

 only in gardens higher up the country, in Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt. 

 The northern part of Africa also possesses the plant, which has been 

 carried thither by the victorious Arabs, but no great attention has ever 

 been paid to it in that region. When we pass into Europe, we see the 

 banana appear in some gardens in Greece, in Sicily, and especially in 

 the souther provinces of Spain. It was introduced into the last-named 

 country by the Moors, who cultivated it extensively in the neighbour- 



VOL. III. H 



