164? 
Polygamies, 
grown, and of a pale yellow colour, and luscious sweet 
taste. A bunch of fruit, from a single plant, sometimes 
exceeds 40 pounds in weight ; but the plantain is gene- 
rally used as an excellent substitute for bread, before 
it is ripe and has acquired the sweet taste ; and for this 
purpose, the outer skin being removed, it is either roast- 
ed or boiled. 
Musa ' Sapientum , Banana Tree ; with the spadix 
or flower-spike nodding, and flowers producing stamens 
deciduous. The banana tree nearly resembles the plan- 
tain, but the stem is marked with dark purple spots, the 
fruit is shorter, rounder, and in more compact bunches, 
and when it is ripe the pulp is of a more agreeable fla« 
vour and more delicious taste. 
Mimosa, Gen. char. — ( 1 ) Cal. five-toothed, cor. 
five-cleft, stamens five, ten, or more. (3) Cal. five- 
toothed, cor. five- cleft, stamens five or more, pistil one, 
fruit a pod. 
Mim. Verticillata, Whorled-leaved Mimosa ; un- 
armed, with linear sharp leaves in whorls. In this 
species, as in some other from Botany Bay, of which it 
is a native, the leaves on the seedling plants are pinnat- 
ed, but afterwards grow in whorls ; it is a greenhouse 
plant, and ripens its seeds in this country. 
Many species of this genus are natives of New Hol- 
land. Mimosa Nilotica , is a native of Egypt and the 
East, and produces the gum-arabic of commerce. 
A triplex. Gen. char. — (3) Cal. five-parted, infe- 
rior ; cor. none ; stamens five ; style two-parted, seed 
one. (3) Cal. two-leaved; cor. none; style two-part- 
ed ; seed one, compressed. 
