BANANA CULTURE IX HAWAII 29 
width 22 to 20 inches. Under certain conditions the fruiting stem of the 
variety breaks within the stalk before the fruit matures. 
Flwoers. — Staminate flower, whitish or cream colored. 5 to 6 centimeters 
long; ovary, rudimentary, greenish; perianth, whitish, shading with age; lobes, 
yellow; petal, translucent, apiCUla, short and erect or turned inwardly, sta- 
mens, 5, whitish, considerably longer than perianth; anthers, curved outward. 
margins become brownish with age; pistil shorter than stamens, slim, small, 
brownish stigma. 
Fruit. — Mature bunches vary from 50 to 70 pounds in Hawaii. Because of 
the arrangement and curvature of the bananas on the stem, the bunch has the 
appearance of the Chinese variety. A< the bunch hangs from the plant, the 
extending rachis has a distinct bend between the hunch and the terminal hud. 
which often causes the variety to he mistaken for the Bluefields. Individual 
fruits vary from G to 8 inches in length, ami curved, with the apex well filled, 
4 or 5 angled, the angle ridges disappearing when the banana fully matures. 
The skin is of medium thickness, yellow in color; pulp, yellow, firm, sweet 
and of good flavor, comparing favorably with the fruit of the Chinese and 
Bluefields varieties. 
LADY FINGER 
The Lady Finger variety (Xo. 4493) was introduced into 
Hawaii by the station from the Porto Rico Experiment Station in 
r.>('4 under the name of " Datyl " (Xo. 4$). It is now grown at the 
Tantalus substation (Xo. 2958), where it withstood a prolonged 
drought in 1923-24 much better than any other variety under trial, 
producing large bunches of fruit. There were probably other intro- 
ductions of the variety into the Hawaiian Islands. Evidently there 
are several strains of the Lady Finger since descriptions from differ- 
ent countries vary considerably. The Lady Finger is well known in 
most parts of tropical America, where it is grown in some places for 
export trade. It is a poor shipper, however. Fawcett states that in 
Guiana where the Panama disease caused losses ranging from 25 to 75 
per cent of the Jamaica (Bluefields) variety, the Lady Finger variety 
was not attacked. The variety is known in tropical America under 
such names as Datyl, Fig, Date, Dedo de Dama, and Guineo Blanco. 
Botanicaily, it is classified as Musa sajnentuvfu. 
Plants. — The plant at maturity is about 25 feet tall; trunk, rather slim, erect; 
roi t system, heavy, enabling the plant to withstand considerably strong winds; 
outer trunk sheaths, dark with reddish brown streaks and patches; foliage, 
very dark green ; leaf petioles, greenish with edges tinged light yellow ; blade, 
about 7 feet long. 14 inches in uTeatest width, dark green above, dull green 
below: fruiting stem, stout, dark, gracefully curved: bunch, slender and very 
compact, considerably long. 
Flowers. — Staminate flower, about G centimenters long, whitish with pinkish 
cast on part of ovary, shade of rose on perianth, which terminates in five lobes 
tippi d with bright orange: petal, whitish, translucent; apicula, small with a 
flight projection of petal margin on each side and a fold at base; stamens with 
Long, curving anthers extending about even with perianth lobes: pistil, style 
slim, stigma lobed, yellow, extending beyond stamens. 
Fruit. — Bunches weigh 40 to 65 pounds; 10 to 14 bands, 15 to 20 banana- to 
hand; individual fruit 4 to 5 inches Long; pedicel, throe-fourths inch, angling, 
in. re blunt at apex: skin. thin. Light yellow; flesh, whitish, firm, sweet and 
agreeable (pi. 9, B). 
HORABORA 
The Borabora or Fei banana (No. 1:757) is believed to have been 
introduced into Hawaii early in the nineteenth century (/./, p. 4^4) 
from the Society Islands where it i.s commonly known to the 
Tahitians a- "Fei," ami possible by some a- " Borabora," the name 
of an island of the Society group where the variety may have 
