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allied plants unnoticed, as they will endure our clime in the 
warmest localities of the colony, where under more careful 
attention they are likely to mature with regularity their 
fruit. They require rich and humid soil. Plantain meal is 
prepared by simply reducing the dried pulp to powder. It 
is palatable, digestible and nourishing. 
Musa sapientum, L. 
The ordinary Banana or Sweet Plantain. India. One of 
the most important plants yielding nutritious delicious 
fruits. The stem is spotted. Bracts green inside. The 
leaves and particularly the stalks and the stems of this and 
other species of Musa can be utilized for producing a fibre 
similar to Manilla Hemp. The fruit of this is used chiefly 
unprepared ; it is generally of a yellow color. Numerous 
varieties are distinguished. As much as a hundredweight 
of fruit is obtained from a plant annually in tropical climes. 
At Caracas, where the temperature is seldom much above or 
below 60° P., the Plantain and Banana plants are very pro- 
ductive, being loaded with fruits 12 to 15 inches long, on 
mountains about 5000 feet high. In our dry Murray re- 
gions the winter temperature seems too low for the suc- 
cessful development of these plants, except on sheltered 
spots. 
Musa troglodytarum, L. (Af. uranosmpos, Eumph.^ 
India, and apparently indigenous also in the Peegee and 
other islands of the Pacific Ocean. The fruit-stalk of this 
species stands upright ; the edible fruits are small, reddish 
or orange-colored. The Chinese M. coccinea, Ait., a dwarf 
ornamental species, has also the fruit-spike straight. 
Myrica Faya, Aiton. 
Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands. A small tree. The 
drupaceous fruits are used for preserves. M. sapida, 
Wallich., an Indian mountainous species, has also edible 
fruits. 
Myrtus Ugni, A. dray. 
The Chilian Q-uava. A hardy shrub, freely bearing its small 
but pleasantly aromatic berries. 
