26 



not above half so long as a plantain, being also more mellow and soft, 

 less luscious, yet of a more delicate taste. They use this for the making 

 drink oftener than the plantains, and it is best when used for drink, or 

 eaten as fruit ; but it is not so good for bread, nor doth it eat well at all 

 when roasted or boiled, so 'tis only necessity that makes any use it this 

 way." 



Rochefort (Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles, pp. 90-93, ed. 1658) refers 

 to the banana as lafigue. He describes it as " only half the size of the 

 plantain, and usually about 6 inches long. The tree bears 100 to 

 126 fruits, which are so closely packed that they press upon one 

 another." 



Lunan, in 1814, introduces a distinction first noticed by Ligon that 

 the stem of the banana " has here and there some blackish spots." He 

 says : — 



" The banana tree so much resembles the plantain as hardly to be 

 distinguished at first sight, but has its stem irregularly marked with 

 black or dark purple spots, which the other has not. The bunches of 

 fruit are more compact, and the fruit more numerous, shorter, and 

 rounder than that of the plantain. The fruit has also a thinner skin, 

 and the pulp is softer and of a more luscious agreeable taste when 

 ripe, which may be eaten either raw, fried, or boiled, and makes 

 excellent fritters. It is a delicate food when ripe and roasted with the 

 skin on." 



Grisebach, in the Flora of the British West India Islands, p. 599, 

 describes the stem of the 31. sapientum as " purple-spotted," and the 

 fruit 5 to 6 inches long. Sir William Hooker, judging from plants grown 

 at Kew, believed the leaves of the banana to be more rounded or cordate 

 than those of the plantain. A further distinction often cited is the fact that 

 the male flowers and bracts are deciduous in the banana leaving the spike 

 beyond the fruit usually naked. In the plantain the male flowers and the 

 bracts are persistent, and the spike beyond the fruit is clothed, not naked. 

 The chief distinction, however, dwelt upon is the difference in the 

 character of the fruit. This in the banana is always sweet when ripe, 

 and it is fit to eat without cooking. Further, some sorts of banana 

 are found to bear a cooler climate than the plantain. 



The Plantain or Cooking Banana (Musa sapientum var. paradis- 

 iaca). This was recognised by Roxburgh under the Hindu and Bengali 

 name of " katch kuila." It is the " large or cooking plantain " of 

 Europeans in India, the Spanish " platano arton," the u banane " of 

 French Guiana and Surinam, according to Aublet ; while Rochefort, 

 already cited, speaks of it as " le bananier." He adds, " It is 12 to 13 

 inches long and nearly as thick as the arm. The tree bears only 

 25 to 30 fruits on the raceme and these are rather laxly placed. They 

 have a hard and dry flesh fit only for cooking or for being roasted 

 in ashes." It is the sort typically represented by the " pisang 

 tandok" of the Malays. Ligon in 1657 called it " plantine." This 

 shows the antiquity of the common name amongst the English. 

 Plantain was evidently originally derived from the Spanish name 

 " plantano," altered by Joseph Acosta and subsequent writers into 

 '*• platano." " Plantain," as remarked by Kurz, was an awkward introduc- 

 tion into the English language, as it was already applied to the common 

 Rib-grass, a species of Plantago. Kurz, it may be added, contrary to 

 general practice, in the East discarded the word " plantain " altogether, 



