286 
THE VEGETATION OF THE DISTRICTS OF 
In gardens everywhere, but also very general in waste places as* 
an escape : native of Eastern Asia. 
552. Maranta Linn, 
Maranta arundinacea Linn. ; H. S. 575 ; B. P. ii. 1048. 
v. Tikhur . Arrowroot. 
Cultivated occasionally about Calcutta; native of the West 
Indies. 
The name Tikhur is applied to and was probably originally res- 
tricted to various species of Curcuma . 
553. Musa Linn. 
Musa sapieiltum Linn.; B. P. ii. 1050. M . paradisaica H. S. 1050. 
v. Ram kela , kantali kela , kach kela. Plantain. 
Cultivated in numerous races, and also occurring in village-shrub- 
beries as if wild: native of India. The vernacular name for all the 
forms is kela. The ram kela is the form with numerous black seeds 
that is occasionally found about villages; it does not, however, quite 
agree with the wild form of the species that occurs in the forests of 
Chota Nagpur and Chittagong, but is rather a form, feral by reversion, 
of the kantali kela or Cooking Plantain which is to be found in several 
races most of which may have been locally evolved. The numerous 
races, of kach kela or Dessert Plantain, on the other hand, would 
appear to be in no case of local origin, but to have been introduced 
from Southern India, Malaya, and possibly elsewhere. 
C.~~ BROMELIACE E. 
554. Ananassa Adans. 
Ananassa sativa Linn. ; B. P. ii, 1052. Ananas sativus H. S. 614. 
v. Ananas , from the American name. Pine apple. 
Sparingly cultivated about Calcutta ; introduced to Asia from 
the West Indies. 
Cl. — H/EMODORACEiE. 
555. Sanse viera Thunb. 
Sanseviera Roxbnrgliiana Schult. f. ; H. S. 556; B. P. ii. 1054. 
v. Murva ) murba . Bowstring Hemp. 
Cultivated and sometimes as if wild in village-shrubberies ; 
reported by Voigt from Serampore but certainly not wild in our area 
it is indeed doubtful whether the species is really indigenous in India 
