53 
PREFATOilY REMARKS ON TliE GENUS MUSA. 
The derivation of the type of this genus has been variously admitted. Linnaeus 
says " it was given in honour of Antonius Musa, the brother of Euphorbus ; " 
others allow the Arabic name for the plant, Mauz, as being- more probable ; but the 
former, judging- from the two words, appears most likely to be the original. The 
plants of this splendid genus are amongst the most prominent features in the 
vegetable world, and form a striking- part of that group or class in the Linn(2an 
arrangement called Hexandria ; characterised by each Hower being furnished with 
six male organs, termed stamens ; it is divided into three orders, in the first of 
which, Monogyniay they occupy a conspicuous place ; the plants belonging- to this 
order are known by each Hower possessing- only one female organ or style, which is 
surmounted by the stigma. In the natuLTol or Jussieuan system they are ranked in 
that order denominated Musacece, well known to have sprung- from the name of the 
genus Musa, Arranged in this noble family are some species of the highest value 
to mankind in point of usefulness, others as ornaments are only surpassed by a few 
of the higher orders of vegetation admired for their g-igantic stature and graceful 
foliage. They are either biennial or perennial, with roundish, solid, watery stems, 
usually straight, perpendicular, averaging- from five to twenty-five feet high, simple, 
thick, round, smooth, fungous, and lameilated. The leaves are oblong, from three 
to ten feet in length, and under two in breadth. The flowers are produced in large 
terminating racemes, destitute of a calyx or perianthium, generally of a yellowish 
white, but in some of a bright scarlet, some possessing fertile, and others sterile 
blossoms, the fertile occupying the lower, and the sterile the upper part of the 
raceme. The fruit that succeeds the former is of an oblong, angular, recurved 
shape, sweet, eatable, and containing many seeds of a black colour. They are 
found in great abundance in the old world, where, for the greatest part, they are 
cultivated. Two species only are cultivated for the nutritive aliment afforded by 
their fruit, viz., Plantain and Banana, although by some the former has been 
considered merely a variety of the latter ; still there are some points of dissimilarity 
existing in the colour of the leaves, shape, and taste of the fruit, sufficient to con- 
stitute them distinct species. And what is so very remarkable connected with the 
history of these plants is, their being no v.'here found in a wild state, claiming 
nativity to no particular part or country in the torrid zone, but from equinoctial 
Asia and America to the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, they offer their 
produce indifferently to the inhabitants ; in a word, wherever the mean heat of the 
year averages 75 degrees Fahrenheit, these plants are amongst the most important 
and interesting objects for the cultivation of man ; and, we may ask, is it not here 
that the first rudiments of civilisation begin to develope themselves ? for even 
amongst the wildest tribes of South America, which depend upon their fruit for 
subsistence, much care is exercised in the propagation of them. All hot 
countries appear equaliy to favour their fruit, and they have been even cultivated 
