AFRO-INDIAN REGIONS. 



269 



Gen. Orchid. (No. 1), large-fruited. Leaf seven inches long, and an inch and a half wide, 



arising from an intervening bulb ; capsule very large, an inch and a half long, deeply 



sulcata. Compare sp. seen on Aimeo. 

 (Gen. Maxillarioid ? No. 1). Leaf nine inches long by half an inch wide, arising from 



an intervening bulb ; scape radical ; flowers rather small ; a sack at base of corolla. 

 (Oberonia) equitans ; bis (No. 1) Metia; Cymbidium of Forster. Compressed equitant 



leaves ; inflorescence terminal; flowers small and green. Also seen on Aimeo. 

 ? (No. 2); compare D. Myosurus of Forster. Leaves eight inches long by a third 



of an inch wide ; flower-stem axillary ; flowers minute, green. 

 (Tacniophyllum) fasciola, (No. 1) ; Limodorum of Forster. Interesting in Vegetable 



physiology, from being reduced to a flower-stem and roots; the green upper surface of 



the roots themselves performing the function of leaves. Seen also on Aimeo. Figured 



by Mr. Drayton. 



Dendrobioid, with cylindrical leaves, (No. 1). Pendulous, two to four feet long ; leaves 



cylindrical and pointed, a fourth of an inch in diameter, and six inches in length. 

 Amomum (No. 1). Forming beds in openings in the mountain-forest. 



Casuarina equisetifolia, (No. 1, bis Metia). A beautiful tree, (introduced by aboriginal 

 settlers), and now forming groves in the vicinity of the coast. 



Musa paradisica, (No. 1; bis Metia), and apparently the variety called "fig-banana" 

 at Rio Janeiro. Abundantly cultivated in the vicinity of the coast; and once seen 

 naturalized in the Interior, at one of the highest points visited. (Introduced by abori- 

 ginal settlers). 



sp. nov., (No. 2) ; the " fehi." A well-marked species, having, instead of a com- 

 pound, a simple floral-spike; which is always upright, with the fruit-pods arising singly 

 from the central stem. Trunk purplish, with lines; the flowers not seen. The fruit 

 diff"ers remarkably from all varieties of the banana in its sensible properties ; while un- 

 ripe, rendered farinaceous by cooking; and when ripe, excellent in the crude state, the 

 pulp approaching the consistence of soft butter, and brilliant yellow; the color being 

 communicated to the urinary secretion. The fehi has taken possession of a large portion 

 of the mountainous Interior of Taheiti; and in places difiicult of access, forms shady 

 groves, to the exclusion of all undergrowth; its tree-like trunk, though softly herbaceous, 

 being twenty feet high, and nearly a foot in diameter. The plant being nowhere cul- 

 tivated by the natives, seemed at first indigenous; but it does not produce seeds, 

 extending itself solely by suckers that spring up at a distance from the parent stem ; 

 the banana was once seen intermingled ; (and the species was afterwards met with 

 under cultivation at the Samoan Islands). On the South or rainy side of Taheiti, the 

 fehi was seen growing at the elevation of only five hundred feet above the sea; but 

 on other parts of the island, nowhere below the limit of a thousand feet. A <i-rove 

 visited on the mountain-ridge in Aimeo. 



Canna (Indica, bis Lower Peru and No. 1 Brazil). Flowers red. " Aimeo," Lieut. 

 Wilkes Henry. Introduced (by trading and colonial Whites). 



Curcuma (No. 1). A root having the taste of turmeric, frequent in some spots in the 

 Interior; but there were neither flowers nor leaves. 



Drac£ena terminalis, (No. 1; bis Metia); the "ti." Naturalized in the wildest and most 

 remote situations, and not seen under cultivation ; the root has an agreeable flavor, and 



