176 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



and a description of it were sent to the Royal Gardens by W. 

 Plowden, Esq., then British Consul in that country. Plants 

 raised from these seeds grew rapidly, soon attaining 8 feet 

 in height, with a girth at 6 inches above the soil of 7 feet 6 

 inches, its leaves being 17 feet long by 3 feet 4 inches wide. 

 This plant thus produces the largest entire leaf of any vege- 

 table organism at present known. The flower-stalk rises from 

 the centre of the plant as in the Banana, and is as thick as a 

 man's arm, forming a considerable article of food to the 

 natives. The fruit is not succulent, but small and dry, being 

 quite useless as food. 



Traveller's Tree (Urania speciosa). This noble plant, the 



Traveller's Tree" of Madagascar, is also known as Ravenala 

 Madagascariensis. It has a cylindrical stem, about 1 foot in 

 diameter, and 30 or more feet in height. It has large leaves, 

 like the Musa ensete, but set in two rows (distichous), and 

 have their footstall^s dilated at the base, and clasped round 

 the stem. The flower-spike is short and produced from the 

 centre, as in Musa. The fruit consists of a dry 3-valved 

 capsule, and the seeds are the size of large peas, and are 

 surrounded by a woolly coat of a beautiful blue colour 

 (arillus). The stems harden, and are used in Madagascar 

 for house-building, making durable floors for warehouses, &c., 

 for this purpose they are split in halves, and the convex 

 side is placed uppermost ; this soon flattens down and be- 

 comes extremely hard. 



The broad leaves of this plant are well adapted for collect- 

 ing rain water, which trickles down the leafstalk and collects 

 in considerable quantities within its sheathing base. If the 

 bases of the leafstalks are pierced with a spear the water 

 gushes out like a jet, and on this account it has received the 

 appellation of " The Traveller's Tree." 



A plant allied to the preceding in habit and mode of growth 

 is Strelitzia augusta, a native of South Africa. It difiers, 

 however, in the stem being more slender, and it does not be- 

 come so hard. In its native country it attains the height of 

 20 feet, but there, as also in cultivation, its weighty top causes 



