235 
the rachis have staminate or male flowers sig eg a cs e as, 
although the pistil is present and smaller, it is not fune a 
male flowers. H it is only the lowermost flowers, near the base, 
that produce fruit, and the normal state is to have only a few fruit-whorls 
at this part, while inale-hermaphrodite flowers and their bracts 
rop off successively leaving a warted nude rachis, terminating in a flower 
cone formed by the innermost bracts of the male flowers. Fertilization 
in bananas is probably affected "d the action of the wind; the pollen is 
spherical and smooth. In ete, Kurz describes the pollen grains 
as tubercled. In many cases th self-fertiliza 
tion, especially when the whole spike consists of hermaphrodite flowers. 
Under glass it would no doubt be an advantage to fertilize the flowers 
artificially, as thereby a more abundant crop of fruit would be produced, 
and rare species preserved. ‘This was successfully done at Kew in regard 
fertilization also might be effected in order to produce new varieties, It 
1s possible that in the natural state this has influenced varieties to a 
larger extent than is supposed. 
There is a tendency i ae mal parts in the flowers of Musas, but 
usually they are as follow: 
The calyx at first abil i is soon slit down one side, and 3-5 toothed 
at the apex. The , placed opposite the calyx, is simple or tricus- 
pidate. The stamens are normally six, but one is usually suppressed : 
in the others the anthers are two-celled and basifixed. Ovar ary cylindrical, 
three-celled ; ovules many in a cell, Vlbcesnaed : style filiform from a 
thickened base ; stigma shortly lobed. 
The fruit is a berry, elongate or short, pulpy or dry, angular, 
indri i the corn 
wded and c 
aspis where the fruits are very IU disposed peen are more rounded 
or terete, 
Ned when produced, are sub-globose or angled by pressure, often 
excavated at the hilum. The testa is very hard, intruded at the 
base and apex; albumen ‘mealy, the embryo sub-truncate. 
There is great variety as regards the size, shape, colour, and texture 
of the fruit. In one section (Physocaulis) the fruit is always coriaceous 
or leathery, with numerous large sub-globose angled seeds. In the 
pulpy or edible-fruited species the fruit, when ripe, may be smooth or 
rough, opaque or glossy, yellow or reddish ; orit may be bright yellow, 
violet, tinged with blood red, straw-yellow, yellowish red, yellowish 
green, or white. It may be from 3 to 10 or even 18 inches long, oblong, 
eylindrical, or indistinetly angular, sometimes with a blunt end or some- 
times produced, as in the singular * duck plantain” of the Malays, with 
a beak nearly as long as its body. It may be d aue stalked, sessile or 
produced at the end of pedicels 2 or 3 inches long. In the section 
Rhodochlamys only one species (M. maculata) produces edible fruit, the 
others have small dry fruit, filled with seeds, and not edible. In M. 
illod the fruit is valve ety and bright Ted, in M. lasiocarpa, 
pubescent, with 4—6 seeds filling up the whole cavit 
In the pulpy or edible-fruited species, known as bananas or 
plantains, the fruits are arran ged in clusters. Some stand straight out ; 
others are slightly curled outwards and upwards ; while not a few are 
