VEGETATION OF A VALLEY, AND OUTSKIRTS OF FOREST. 29 



enough in the island to gather information on this head.* We only noticed two 

 equally common varieties of the fruit, the one being oblong, almost the shape of a 

 pumpkin, the other rather smaller and nearly spherical. The two are not produced 

 on one and the same tree ; the round one has a rather more solid fibre : otherwise 

 we could not perceive any difference either in the look or taste of the fruits, or in 

 the shape of the leaves. The tree here illustrated (2 a) is quite a young speci- 

 men, just beginning to bear fruit. The bananas of this place belong to four 

 varieties, the specific type of which are Musa paradisiaca and Musa Sapientum, 

 the one having nodding, the other erect heads of fruit.f The larger variety of 

 the former (6 e) is called " Ush" plural " Ushua ; " it is the best-flavoured of 

 all. The smaller is termed " Kirreh" and its fruit is preferred when baked. 

 The larger variety of the second species (13, n; 15, n), having a soft, pulpy flesh, 

 of poor flavour, is known by the name of "Kalash" and the smaller "Kalanton" 

 All four differ, as far as I could make out, only in the shape and nature of their 

 fruit. Of the two larger Galadiums (8 f; 9 f) it is principally a species allied 

 to the well-known Caladium macrorhizum, the root of which furnishes a nutri- 

 tious and palatable article of food. Still more nutritious and palatable is that of 



a third ^ 14 | 15 jQ, which we could take for nothing else than the widely 



diffused Caladium esculentum. Its leaves have a bluish tinge, whilst those of 



* Most bread fruits — and their variety is almost 

 as endless as that of our apples and pears — have 

 abortive ovules, and therefore do not produce any 

 seeds, a peculiarity which gives them the advan- 

 tage over the few sorts in which the ovules are 

 fertile, and assume considerable dimensions at the 

 expense of the edible pulp. Not only are there great 

 distinctions in the nature of the pulp (as there 

 is in the nature of the tubers of the potato, that 

 of some being mealy, of others waxy, &c), but also 

 in the time of ripening, there being early and late 

 sorts. Important characters of distinction reside 

 in the foliage ; some leaves are quite entire, — I do 

 not here confound Artocarpus integrifolia, the well- 

 known jack fruit, with Artocarpus incisa, — some 

 pinnatifid, and again others bipinnatifid. The 

 shape of the fruit, whether it be oblong or more or 

 less spherical, its surface, which passes through the 

 various stages from smooth to soft prickles three 

 quarters of an inch long, its size, the nodding or 

 erect tendency of the peduncle, the greater or less 

 fibrousness of the bark (for making cloth), the greater 

 or less heaviness of the wood, and the amount of 

 gum exuded by the stem and branches, must arrest 



the attention of all those who make this subject their 

 study. Bennett (" Gatherings of a Naturalist," 

 London, 1860, p. 396) found twenty-four varieties 

 in the small island of Tahiti ; Fiji and other Poly- 

 nesian islands are equally rich. No attempt has as 

 yet been made to identify the different varieties 

 scattered over the whole eastern hemisphere. — Ber- 

 thold Seemcmn. 



f This is evidently a mistake. The Musa with 

 erect bunches of fruit has nothing to do with either 

 M. paradisiaca or Sapientum, but is the well-known 

 Musa Troglodytarum of Linnaeus, of which the Musa 

 textilis (of which the delicate Manila handker- 

 chiefs are made) may be a variety. The Samoans 

 say that at one time all the Musas had a great fight, 

 in which M. Troglodytarum came off victorious, 

 and was able to hold up its head, whilst all the 

 vanquished ones could never muster up courage to 

 raise it after their defeat. Our author also uses 

 the term " bananas " collectively for all the species, 

 whilst it is more generally restricted to those kinds 

 which may be eaten raw, and that of " plantain " 

 to those which require to undergo some process of 

 cooking before they can be eaten. — Berthold Seemann, 



