21 



clusters 3-4, close, of 12-15 flowers each ; bracts oblong, dull brown, 

 the lower 8-12 inches long ; male clusters 8-12, their bracts much 

 imbricated, persistent. Calyx whitish, 2 inches long, shortly five- 

 toothed at the tip. Fruit oblong-trigonous 3 inches long, umbonate at 

 the apex, narrowed gradually to the sessile base. Seeds not seen. 

 Distribution : — Liu Kiu archipelago (25° to 30° N. lat.) ; cultivated 

 in Southern Japan. Introduced into cultivation in England by Messrs. 

 Veitch of Chelsea. Described from a plant that flowered in the 

 Temperate House at Kew in 1891. It is said to be as hardy as 

 M. Ensete. It is grown in Southern Japan for its fibre. An interesting 

 series of articles made from this " Japanese plantain," consisting of 

 fibre, cloth and other fabrics, is in the Kew Museum, presented by 

 Mr. J. H. Veitch, F.L.S. The cloth is used for making screens, 

 and for binding books. 



*M. Martini, Rev. Hort. Belg. 1892, 107, fig. 12, has the habit of 

 M, sapientum, and is said to be more hardy than M. Ensete, with 

 bright rose-red flowers. The leaves are oblong, long petioled, firm in 

 texture, bright green above, glaucous beneath with reddish veins. 

 A plant which has not yet flowered exists in the Kew collections 

 brought from the Botanical Garden, Orotava, Teneriffe, by the Assistant 

 Director in 1893. 



21. M. malaccensis, Ridley. Stems few, slender, 6 inches diameter, 

 with purple- brown blotches. Leaves about 8 feet long, green with 

 brown bars. Spike drooping, clothed with brown hairs ; bracts 

 lanceolate, sub-acute, brown, outside glaucous, inside striped with yellow. 

 Female flowers 16 in a bract in a double row. Fruit sub-cylindrical, 

 somewhat angular, 4 inches long, an inch wide ; seeds black, angular ; 

 " pisang karok " of the Malays. Distribution : — Common in the 

 jungles of Malacca, Selangor, and Perak, occurring also in Pahang. 



" M. zebrina (Flore des Serres, t. 1061, 1062) is doubtless," according 

 to Ridley, " a young plant either of this species or of M. sumatrana, Becc. 

 I never saw," he says, "any form of M. sapientum, L. (to which species 

 Mr. Baker refers this) with barred leaves. The brown bars are very 

 constant in young plants of M. malaccensis and even persist sometimes 

 in the adult foliage. This species may perhaps be the parent 

 of some of the cultivated bananas here, but is very distinct from 

 M. sapientum in the hairy rachis and other points . . . An 

 attempt has been made to utilise the fibre. The plant is very abundant 

 and springs up like a weed when old jungle is felled and forms an 

 impenetrable thicket." 



22. M. flava, Ridley. Leaves 16 inches wide, green. Spike nodding, 

 pubescent ; bracts widely ovate lanceolate, obtuse, 4 inches long, 

 1£ inches wide, yellow. Female flowers 16 to a bract in two rows. 

 Fruit, when dry, 2 inches long, five angled. Distribution : — Eastern 

 coast of the Malay Peninsula, Pajiang at Pulau Tijau on the Pahang 

 River. 



Nearly allied to M. malaccensis, but the broad, thick, blunt, bright 

 yellow bracts give it a totally different appearance, the spike being 

 quite blunt at the top. 



* Musa sp. Hongkong. No. 467, 1886. A plant of a Masa, 

 native of Hongkong, supposed to be new, was received from Mr. 

 Charles Ford, F.L.S., in 1886 and again in 1894. It is now growing at 



