22 



Kew but it has not yet flowered. It has a slender stem and rather small 

 leaves. The flowers, judging by dried specimens, are those of M. 

 sapientum. 



*23. M. sapientum, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1477 ; Trew, Ehret. t. 21-22. 

 Stem cylindrical, usually green, reaching a height of 20-25 feet, 1-10 

 inches diameter, stoloniferous from the base. Leaves oblong, thin, 

 bright green, 5-8 feet long, 1^-2 feet broad, usually rounded at the 

 base ; petiole 1-X\ feet long. Spike drooping, often 4-5 feet long ; 

 male flowers deciduous ; bracts lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, dull 

 violet, more or less glaucous outside, the lower 1-1^ feet long, the 

 upper \ foot, often red inside, several expanded at once, the edges of 

 the upper not involute. Flowers about a dozen to a cluster, yellowish- 

 white, 1^ inches long ; calyx five-toothed at the top ; petal ovate, half 

 as long as the calyx. Fruit oblong-trigonous, 3-8 inches long, H-2 

 inches diameter, forming three to nine bundles of about a dozen each, 

 rounded to the apex, narrowed gradually to the sessile base, yellow or 

 bright yellow or reddish when ripe, the flesh fit to eat without cooking. 

 Common banana. Universally cultivated throughout the tropical zone 

 of both hemispheres for the sake of its fruit. It also yields a fibre, 

 which, however, is much inferior in tenacity to that of M. texilis. 



One of the original forms of this is probably the wild M. sapientum 

 mentioned by Roxburgh (Corom. Pt. t. 275) as grown from seed 

 received from Chittagong. 



* Var. M . paradisiaca, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1477 ; Trew, Ehret. t. 18-20. 

 Male flowers and bracts less deciduous. Fruit cylindrical, ^-1 foot 

 long, generally yellow or yellowish green when ripe with firmer and less 

 saccharine pulp, not fit to eat without cooking. Common plantain. 

 Cultivated universally in the tropical zone. 



Var. M. troglodytarum, Linn. ; M. uranoscopos, Eumph. Fruit 

 small, crowded on the erect axis of the panicle, obovoid-oblong or nearly 

 round, reddish yellow, containing rudimentary seeds. Flesh sweet, 

 yellow. Wild in India, Ceylon (Moon), and the Malay Isles, the favourite 

 food of elephants. The above names have often been applied to forms 

 of other species than sapientum, with a similar habit, such as M. Fehi. 



Var. M. oleracea, Vieill. A flowerless form with a glaucous violet 

 stem and an elongated thick turnip-like rhizome, which is boiled or 

 roasted like a yam, which it resembles in taste. New Caledonia. Native 

 name Poiete. 



*Var. M. vittata, Hook, in Bot. Mag. t. 5402 ; M. vittata, Acherm, 

 in Flore des Serves, t. 1510-1513. Leaves and long fruits copiously 

 striped with white. Spathes bright red inside. Imported from the 

 island of St. Thomas, West Africa. 



Other varieties to which Latin names have been given are : M. violacea, 

 Hort ; M. sanguinea, Welw. ; M. odorata, Lour. ; (M. mensaria, Rumph) ; 

 {M. regia, Rumph) ; *M. champa, Hort. ; *M. martabanica, Hort. ; 

 *M. dacca, Horan. ; *M. rubra, Firminger, non Wallich. 



