28 BULLETIN 55, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
Hawaii by the station from the Porto Rico Experiment Station in 
December, 1904, under the name " Colorado." The names " Red 
Spanish " and " Red Cuban " are applied to the variety in other 
parts of the West Indies and sometimes in Hawaii. " Red " is the 
term generally used commercially, and is, perhaps, the most ap- 
plicable. The variety is said to be of Indian origin, and is botani- 
cally known as Musa sapientum var. rubra. It is distinct in its 
vegetative characters, is large, and not so exacting in its requirements 
as are most other varieties. It is reported from tropical America as 
being more resistant to disease than are other commercial varieties. 
GREEN RED 
The Red variety frequently gives rise to bud mutation producing 
fruit which is more green than red in color until maturity when the 
green portion turns yellow, hence the name " Green Red." In varia- 
tion, the Green Red variety is different from the Colorado Blanco 
variety. Trunks and fruit stems are striped in some instances and 
are green on one side and red on the other in others, and many of 
the bananas are green on one side and red on the other. Such ba- 
nanas from tropical America are said to be sold under different trade 
names. 
Plants. — Large and strong, 24 to 28 feet tall; trunks, 14 to 18 inches in 
basal diameter ; sheaths, petioles, and midribs of leaves, red ; leaf blades, 12 
to 14 feet long, 24 inches wide, tapering toward apex, dark green. 
Flowers. — Staminate flower, 7.8 centimeters long, whitish with wash 
of red over upper part of ovary and lower part of perianth ; lobes, red with 
yellow edges and tip ; petal, large, creamy white, several folds at the top, 
apicula prominent, curved; stamens, longer than perianth, anthers, white 
turning brown ; stigma, brownish, flattened, 5-lobed. 
Fruit. — Bunches, medium, weighing 30 to 50 pounds, 4 to 7 hands ; individual 
fruits, 5 to 7 inches long, 2 to 21/, inches in diameter, stout, curved then nearly 
straight, angles disappearing at full ripeness ; base tapering abruptly to short 
pedicel ; apex filled ; color, dark purplish red, changing to yellow and red when 
ripe ; skin, thick ; pulp, cream colored, firm, core, distinct ; flavor good. 
HAMAKUA 
Plants of the Hamakua variety (No. 4810) were received by the 
station in 1922 from the Island of Hawaii, and set in the trial 
grounds (pi. 7, B). The plants have o;rown and fruited and studies 
have been made of their varietal characters for comparison with 
specimens of the variety growing elsewhere in the Territory. The 
Hamakua is known to some growers as Bluefields, but this is un- 
doubtedly a mistake. The varietal characters of the Hamakua va- 
riety correspond very accurately with those of the Congo, a com- 
mercial banana of the West Indies, which was introduced into 
Hawaii by the station in 1904 and later disappeared without record. 
It is believed that a number of propagating heads of the Congo were 
introduced into the island of Hawaii and in time became known as 
Hamakua bananas. 
Plants. — From 10 to 14 feet tall, reclining; trunks, green, marked with red- 
dish cast and darker patches on the upper portions of the outer sheaths ; 
blackish patches on the basal portion of the petioles. Leaves green, glaucous 
on both surfaces ; petioles, greenish with narrow red margins extending as 
brownish lines along edges of blade. Blades vary from 5 to 7 feet long, greatest 
