BANANA CUI/TUBE IX HAWAII 33 
Flowers. — Pistillate flower, 7.5 to 1<» centimeters long; ovary, 4 to ."> angled, 
rich dark red; perianth, pink outside, red inside: surface lined with Longitu- 
dinal ridges, terminating in 5 bright yellow lobes, 2 outside Long and narrow, 
middle, short and broad. 2 intermediate, very small: petal, bladdery, firm, 
margins and yellowish apicula turned inward. Usually, only three stamens, 
rudimentary: style, stout, stigma, globular and cream to brown in color. 
Staminate flower, T.."> centimeters long; ovary, red; perianth, pink outside, 
red within, extreme portion much retlexed. Lobes yellow and varying in size 
and shape as in the pistillate flower. Petal bladdery, long, firm, deep rose 
pink, margins above flaring outward, one or two folds at top; apicula. Light 
or yellowish, curved outward: stamens. 5, as long as apicula: anthers, brown- 
ish' and narrower than filaments; style of pistil, long, slim, white; stigma; 
small, yellowish or brownish; some nectar about base of style. 
Fruit. — Weighs 25 to 60 pounds a bunch, depending largely upon the kind 
of culture given: 10 to 14 fruits to hand, 5 to 7 hands to bunch: individual 
fruits 5 to 7 inches long, 1*4 to 1% inches thick. 4 or 5 angled, tip somewhat 
beaked: skin, thick, reddish turning green before maturing, checked with 
small corklike patches, dull yellow when ripe; flesh, whitish, seedless: core. 
inconspicuous: flavor, decidedly applelike when fruit is cooked. 
FATHER LEO X ORE 
The original of the Father Leonore (Xo. 4501) variety is un- 
known. The station obtained propagating material of the variety 
from the Moanaltia Gardens near Honolulu in 1920; and the super- 
intendent stated that the late S. M. Damon, owner of the gardens, 
received the first plant about 1890 from a Father Leonore, whose 
duties took him to all parts of the islands. The variety has been 
known as the Father Leonore for many years, and has done well 
up to 1,000 feet elevation, producing bunches of fruit weighing 60 
pounds. In character, the fruit is more like the Brazilian and 
Lady Finger varieties than the Hawaiian bananas, hence it must 
have been introduced from some other part of the world. 
Plants. — About 25 feet high at maturity of fruit ; trunk of medium size, 
erect, well anchored against strong winds : trunk sheaths, streaked with 
abundance of dark brown, causing the plant to resemble the Lady Finger 
trunks ; foliage and leaf petioles, dark green, margins tinged with light 
yellow ; blades about 6 feet long, 15 inches wide, dark green above, dull 
green below. 
Flowers. — Staminate flower, pale yellow : perianth becomes slightly gray 
with age as does the perianth of the Brazilian and Bluefields varieties : 
l>erianth lobes, light yellow: petal, smooth, creamy white; apicula, small, 
tinned inwardly: stamens. 5, whitish; anthers, narrowing, much curved, and 
darkened at margins: pistils longer than stamens; style, slim, and stigma, 
small. 
Fruit. — Bunch weighs 50 to 60 pounds, long, appearing somewhat like 
that of Lady Finger variety, but more irregular and not so compact, 8 to 10 
hands, 18 to 25 fruits to hand : individual fruits, weigh 5 to 8 ounces, 6 to 7 
inches long, iy 2 to 114 inches in diameter, usually 5-angled, beaked apex ; 
>kin, clear yellow, medium thickness: like the Apple banana, the fruit con- 
tains considerable spongy fiber on inner surface of peel : pulp, pale yellow, 
melting, moist; core, indistinct: flavor, subacid, good quality; a good com- 
mercial banana for local consumption. 
The Largo (Xo. 441)7) is native of tropical America, where it is 
considered \>y some as a plantain on account of the characters of the 
fruit. The variety was introduced into Hawaii from Mexico (13, 
p. 45), and first recorded at the -tat ion in L9Q8 under accession Xo. 
