BAN AX A CULTURE IN HAWAII 25 
51, 52, 53), and are known to others. The Mala Oa and Abyssinian 
varieties are very rare, occasionally being grown for ornamental 
purposes. The fruits of the abaea, and Abyssinian and Oa varie- 
ties are not edible, but are of value because of their production of 
abundant pollen. 
INTRODUCED VARIETIES 
CAVENDISH OB CHINESE 
The Covendish or Chinese banana (Xo. 4498) 9 is the leading com- 
mercial variety of the Hawaiian Islands, its wonderful adaptability 
to local conditions making it rank supreme among the many banana 
varieties so far cultivated (pi. 7, A). The brief history of its origin 
is interesting: 
The dwarf banana was found growing in southern China by early 
travelers to the Orient, and in 1826 was brought to Mauritius, Indian 
Ocean, by Charles Telfair, who seems to have been the first Euro- 
pean to obtain plants of the species. The dwarf plants grew vigor- 
ously, fruited profusely, and seemed to be practically immune from 
attack by insect pests and disease, convincing the grower of the 
superiority of the species over all other banana species in his exten- 
sive collection. Two plants, sent to a Mr. Barclay, of Burryhill, 
England, in 1829, were grown in a hothouse and propagated by 
means of offshoots. After the death of Mr. Barclay, one of the 
plants was sold to the Duke of Devonshire and grown at Chatsworth 
in 1836 by the gardener, a Mr. Paxton. The gardener published 
a description of the plant in the Magazine of Botany for 1837 (11, 
p. 197). A. B. Lambert, a European botanist whose extensive her- 
barium was open to every man of science, made a study of the dwarf 
banana in 1836 and exhibited some of the plants at a meeting of the 
Linnean Society in London, together with an old Chinese drawing 
which he believed identified the origin of the species Mr. Lambert 
gave the dwarf banana the specific name of ca\~endishii, probably 
in honor of Henry Cavendish (1731-1810), a noted English scientist. 
and relative of the Duke of Devonshire. The Chatsworth gardens 
were the original source of all the Cavendish bananas for commercial 
cultivation. 
John Williams, a missionary of the South Sea Islands, who heard 
of the dwarf species at Chatsworth upon his return to England in 
1834, carried some of the plants in 1838 to Tonga, Samoa, and the 
Society Islands, where they were propagated and flourished. Ten 
years later the species was introduced into the Friendly Islands and 
Fiji, where it effectively put a stop to occasional famines. 
According to Hillebrand (14. p. 443), the Cavendish or Chinese 
banana (Musa cayendishii) was introduced into the Hawaiian 
Islands from Tahiti about the year 1855. In a very short time it 
superseded all other varieties on account of its superior fruiting 
qualities and its low form of growth, which affords it protection from 
high winds. Within the last hundred year- the species has been 
introduced into Egypt, Brazil, French Guiana, Barbados, Trinidad, 
Accession number under whicb the variety baa !><•< n propagated at the nation. 
