29 



and purplish-brown, yellow inside ; fruit 2-J inches long, finch 

 diameter, faintly ribbed ; seeds few, black, soft, I inch diameter, 

 surrounded by copious sweet puln. Does not rise above 1,500 

 feet. 



Dr. King thinks the two latter forms are likely to be distinct 

 specifically from sapientum. His Hookeri is probably M. sikkimensis, 

 Kurz. 



In the Kew Museum is a dried complete bunch of fruit marked M. 

 cliffortiana, which, no doubt, represents the wild seminiferous state of 

 M. sapientum. The fruits, densely crowded together in the spike are 

 about 3 inches long, about \ inch diameter, and completely filled with 

 seed. This specimen was presented to Kew by the late D. Hanbury, 

 F.R.S., in 1867. 



Sub-genus Rhodochlamys. 



Red-bracteated Musas. 



24. M. maculata, J acq. Stem slender, 7-8 feet high. Leaves green 

 above glaucous beneath ; petiole \ foot long. Bracts yellowish- 

 brown ; flowers four in a cluster. Fruit oblong, 2-3 inches long, 1 inch 

 diameter, narrowed gradually to the sessile base and apex, yellow, 

 spotted with brown, eatable, aromatic ; flesh, white. Known only as 

 cultivated in Mauritius and Bourbon, where it is called Figue 

 mignonne. Differs from the other species of this sub-genus by its 

 eatable fruit. 



*25. M. sumatrana, Beccari. Whole plant 7-8 feet high. Stem 

 stender. Leaves glaucous with irregular blotches of claret-brown. 

 Rachis hairy. Dried fruit cylindrical, curved, 2-3 inches long, \ inch 

 diam. Distribution ; — Sumatra, province of Padang, alt. 1,100 feet, 

 Beccari. Cultivated in India. Its affinity is with M. rosacea, Jacq. A 

 sample of the fibre prepared from the stem of this species is in the Kew 

 Museum from Mr. R. Derry, Malacca, 1889. 



26. M. violascens, Ridley. Stem cylindrical slender, 8 to 10 feet 

 high. Leaves glaucous beneath, 10 inches wide with a stout midrib. 

 Spike erect or suberect, having bracts narrowly lanceolate, acute, 

 white tinged with purple-violet or wholly violet, 9 inches long by 



2 inches wide or wider. Female flowers 6 in a bract. Fruit green, 



3 inches long, an inch thick, angular ; seeds i inch long, not angular. 

 Distribution: — Malay Peninsula, Pahang, Selangor, and Sungei 

 Ujong. This plant is distinguished by its erect or almost erect spadix, 

 of which the bracts are remarkably long and narrow, acuminate and of 

 a violet colour like that of a " brinjal." The flowers are few and 

 arranged in single rows in each bract ; sometimes the bracts are persistent 

 after the flowers are fallen and hang down. The seeds are cylindrical 

 and not angled and irregular as in the common banana and M. 

 malaccensis. Although placed under the section Rhodochlamys the 

 petal has the form of the section Eumusa. 



*27. M. rosacea, Jacq. Dot. Beg. t. 706 ; Lodd. Bot. Gab. t. 616 

 M. ornata, Roxb. ; M. speciosa, Tenore ; M, Carolina, Sterler. Stoloni- 



