MUSA CAVENDISHIL 
(the cavendish plantain.) 
class. order, 
HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
MUSACE^. 
Generic Character. — Corolla in two divisions, upper erect, terminated with five teeth, lower lialf the 
length of the npper, and conical shaped. Fruit oblong three-cornered, many-seeded. 
Specific Character. — P/«n^ four to five feet high. Stem composed of small cells, retaining moisture. 
Leaves oblong, lanceolate, obtuse, with parallel veins, midrib protuberant on the under side, upper 
grooved. (S'joac^it:' spathaceous, nodding, springing from the centre of the leaves, spathes brown red, 
freckled with white spots. Corolla pale yellow, consisting of two petals, upper fringed and reflexed, 
under short and entire. Stamens erect, fertile. Pistil erect, nearly as long as the stamens. 
Stigma globose. 
This highly interesting- and most valuable plant is a native of China; it was 
sent from the Mauritius in 1829 by the late Charles Telfair, Esq., to his friend the 
late Mr. Barclay of Burryhill. Mr. Cameron, Curator of the Birmingham Botanic 
Gardens, has kindly furnished us with the following- particulars respecting- its 
history : — 
" The only plants of the Chinese Musa, that I ever heard of, were two imported 
ones received under that name at Burryhill in 1829. They were sent from the 
Mauritius by the late Charles Telfair, Esq., who stated in his letter, that he had 
Obtained the species two or three years previously from China, that he had been at 
much pains in collecting- together all the species and varieties of 31usa he could 
obtain, and that he considered the one sent to be the most valuable, as it fruited 
profusely, and, only growing- three feet high, would render it a great acquisition to 
the stoves of this country. As I had left Burryhill, I do not know what became of 
either plants." 
Messrs. Young, of Epsom, purchased both plants at Mr. Barclay's sale, one for 
the Duke of Devonshire, and the other to go to the continent. 
A confirmation of its being a Chinese species, is an old Chinese drawing of the 
present kind, in the possession of Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., one of the vice- 
presidents of the Linnsean Society. In a communication which we had with Mr. 
Lambert in July last, before our plant flowered, he informed us that he possessed a 
drawing on old Chinese paper which he believed identical with our plant. Mr. 
Lambert had a full sized cop/ made, and exhibited it at the Linnsnan Society in 
