X, C, 6 
Teocloro: Philippine Bananas 
413 
This was recognized by Roxburgh under the Hindu and Bengali name 
of “katch kulla.” It is the “large or cooking plantain” of Europeans in 
India, the Spanish “platano arton,” the “banane” of French Guiana and 
Surinam, according to Aublet; while Rochefort, already cited, speaks of 
it as “le bananier.” He adds, “It is 12 to 13 inches long and nearly as 
thick as the arm. The tree bears only 25 to 30 fruits on the raceme and 
these are rather laxly placed. They have a hard and dry flesh fitted only 
for cooking or for being roasted in ashes.” It is the sort typically repre- 
sented by the “pisang tandok” of the Malays. Ligon in 1657 called it 
“plantine.” This shows the antiquity of the common name amongst the 
English. Plantain was evidently originally derived from the Spanish 
name “plantano,” altered by Joseph Acosta and subsequent writers into 
“platano.” “Plantain,” as remarked by Kurz, was an awkward introduc- 
tion into the English language, as it was already applied to the common 
Rib-grass, a species of Plantago. Kurz, it may be added, contrary to 
general practice, in the East discarded the word “plantain” altogether, 
and his writings used the word “banana” exclusively, for the edible fruit 
of Musas. 
Grisebach describes the stem of the plantain as “green” and the fruits 
“ascending” (or curved upwards) “about a foot long.” This curving up- 
wards is characteristic of the Horn plantain, but it is not distinctive 
enough to separate plantains and bananas in general, prevailing habit 
of the leaves, according to Sir William Hooker, is that they are “much 
longer and narrowed into the petiole” than in the banana. The male 
flowers and the bracts are not so deciduous as in the banana, and the 
portion of the spike beyond the fruit is much shorter and usually covered 
with the remains of the bracts and dried up flowers. The individual fruits 
again are very distinct. They have a firmer and less saccharine pulp and 
are not fit to eat without cooking. 
In the Philippines there are a number of varieties best referred 
here. Prominent among these is the tundoc. Apparently there 
exist here a number of other distinct forms like the balongcaue 
of Albay, which remain to be studied. 
MUSA PARADISIACA L. var. MAGNA Blanco. Tundoc. 
Blanco’s description is translated as follows : 39 
Fruit with three or more angles which disappear at maturity. This 
plant produces but few fruits on the raceme; but in compensation they are 
of very large size, sometimes more than a foot in length. This fruit when 
cooked has a taste resembling that of apples, and for that reason it is 
highly esteemed. Cloth is also made of the stem, as From the abaca; but 
it is not so good. 
Tagalog, tundoc. 
Other names for the tundoc are boracho and tondoc. But none 
of these should be confused with the name tuldoc. 
39 Fl. Filip, ed. 1 (1837) 244. 
