A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF PHILIPPINE BANANAS 1 
By Nicanor Gregorio Teodoro 
( From the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines) 
TWELVE PLATES 
INTRODUCTION 
Few of the numerous valuable varieties of fruits known to 
man are economical and satisfying articles of diet, and very 
few are available throughout the year. The banana, however, 
fulfills both of these requirements. Generally speaking, it is 
the only fruit which is plentiful at all seasons of the year. It 
is one of the most wholesome and appetizing of fruits. Because 
of these facts it is used alike by rich and poor throughout the 
tropics as well as in many parts of the temperate zones. The 
particular value of the banana in human diet seems to be to 
furnish succulent, nutritious, and easily digestible food. It is 
interesting to quote the remarks of a commissioner to the World’s 
Columbian Exposition of 1893. He stated in part as follows: 2 
The banana meal engaged the careful attention of several of the leading 
grocers in Chicago and elsewhere. One large house in Chicago, Sprague, 
Warner, & Co., after testing samples of this meal was so pleased with 
the results that it offered to undertake to introduce it as a food for infants 
and invalids * * *. 
Beside the use of its fruits, it has many other uses. The 
stems of various sorts of Musa produce very valuable fibers, 
for example, that yielded by Musa textilis and known as Manila 
hemp. The stems of Musa sapientum are commonly used by 
the Filipinos as food for hogs and for half a dozen other purposes. 
The leaves are used as thatches for young seedlings, especially 
tobacco ; for sheaths for packing bales of tobacco ; and for wrap- 
pers for various sorts of articles of food. 
Among the most interesting features of the banana which are 
worthy of note are the suitability of its suckers for transport 
over long distances without injury and its adaptability to 
1 Thesis presented for graduation from the College of Agriculture, Uni- 
versity of the Philippines, No. 39. 
2 Species and principal varieties of Musa, Kew Bull., Add. ser. VI 
pt. 2 (1906) 84. 
379 
