QUEENSLAND 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 
(From the Queensland Guardian , March 30, 1866.) 
The following paper was read at the last 
meeting of the Philosophical Society, by Mr. 
W. P. Townson 
When I gave i i the name or subject of my 
paper to the Secretary, I had not then thought 
how boundless it was. Its vastness was almost 
sufficient to appal one, but it carried along 
with it the comforting convicfi >n that it would 
be a safe subject to fall back upon, if required 
to give a paper at any future meeting. 
The neglected vegetable product that I have 
chosen, is the Banana, or Plantain. I use the 
word neglected as applicable to Queensland in 
almost every point of view ; it is planted and 
then neglected, its fruit is cut off and the stem 
and leaves are either tossed into the river or 
else piled np on some rubbish heap to add to 
the disagreeable odours that greet oui senses 
— from beginning to end it is neglected. I 
have used the words Banana or Plantain, as 
the different^ between these plants is so slight 
that it is most probable that there was origi- 
nally but one stock from which they have, by 
cultivation and change, of locality, been derived. 
It h is never been determined with exactness, 
whether the Plantain or Banana (which ver be 
the parent stock) exists anywhere at present, 
or has been known to exist, as a perfect plant 
— i.e., bearing fertile seeds ; or whether it haa 
always existed in the imperfect state, i.e,, in- 
capable of being procreated by seeds. 
Linnaeus conjectures that the “ Bihai ” 
( Heliconia humilis), a native of Caraccas, which 
produces fertile seeds, is the stock plant of the 
Plantain or Bauana, but the absence of any 
description of a wild seed bearing Banana, 
renders it highly probable that the cultivated 
species are hybrids produced long ago. The 
Banana from time immemorial has been the 
I food of the philosophers and sages of the Ea9t, 
who have used it either in its ripe state, or as a 
farinaceous vegetable, roasted or boiled. It i 3 
remarkable that the Banana should be indige- 
nous, or at least cultivated for ages both in the 
old and new world. Numerous South 
American travellers describe some one of these 
plants as being indigenous articles of food 
among the natives, thus showing (if the 
Banana and its varities be hybrids) a commu- 
nication between the tropics of America, Asia, 
a id Africa, long before the time of Columbus. 
The older writers on Guiana, consider the 
B mana or Plmtain indigenous. Sir R. 
Schomburgk, during his travels, found a 
large species of E Jible Plantain far in 
the interior. In the northern parts 
of our colony, later explorers have 
found large tracts of Bananas, which, from an 
estimation of the character of the natives as 
e inced at present, must be indigenous. These 
tracts during the fruit bearing sea- on are 
resorted to by the natives, and seem to be the 
only support they require for the time. 
