260 Scott- Elliot, — On the Fertilisation of Musa , 
to develope longitudinally while it can expand laterally. The upper stamen is not 
developed, being probably in the way, and there is sometimes a reduction in length 
of the next superior stamens. 
The usual fertilisers of the banana, at least in Natal, are 
sunbirds, but insects appear often to assist 1 (notably bees), 
while in Mauritius insects must be the only fertilisers. 
Raven ala madagascariensis. 
This flower shows a great advance on Musa in specialisa- 
tion. The flowers are very large, but each peduncle has only 
seven to nine (in some cases twelve) bracts which correspond 
to the almost indefinite number of whorls in the banana. 
The bracts, each of which contains a large number of flowers 
closely packed together, are large (16 inches long) and very 
rigid, their upper edges being in contact above the flowers, which 
emerge between their superior edges one by one as they ripen. 
The three sepals are free in Ravenala before the flower rises 
between the edges of the bracts 2 , but a sheath quite similar to 
that of Musa is formed by the close union of the two lower 
petals only. This encloses the stamens and is hard and 
sclerenchymatous in structure. 
The odd petal is much shorter than the other two, but not 
very different in shape. 
The six stamens enclosed in this sheath are unable to 
elongate, and hence become very strained. The style has six 
longitudinal grooves on which the anthers shed most of their 
pollen (though some is retained in the anthers). Part of the 
extremity of the style projects through the end of the petal 
sheath. 
When the flower rises between the rigid edges of the bract, 
it is in a very strained condition, and the two upper edges of 
the united sepals gradually separate. In this state, a touch 
on the end of the sheath sets the two petals free, the stamens 
and style at once spring into the position shown in Fig. 24, 
1 Cf. Miiller, Verh. d. natur. Ver. d. preuss. Rhein, ii. West. i. 1878, and 
Hildebrand, Bot. Zeit., xxviii, p. 273, 1870. 
2 In the bud they are closely united round the petals, just as in Musa. 
