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Baker.— A Synopsis of the 
tica , Rumph. Amboin. V, 130, t. 60; AT. paradisiaca , Van 
Hooten, Fleurs Java, t. 30. Stem cylindrical, usually green, 
reaching a length of 20-25 ft., 4-6 in. diam,, stoloniferous 
from the base. Leaves oblong, thin, bright green, 5-8 ft, 
long, 1 \—2 ft. broad, usually rounded at the base; petiole 
1-1 J ft. long. Panicle drooping, often 4-5 ft. long; male 
flowers deciduous ; bracts lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, dull 
violet, more or less glaucous outside, the lower i-i| ft. long, 
the upper \ ft., often red inside, several expanded at once, the 
edges of the upper not involute. Flowers about a dozen to 
a cluster, yellowish-white, ij in. long; calyx 5-toothed at the 
top ; petal ovate, half as long as the calyx. Fruits oblong- 
trigonous, 3-4 in. long, i\-2 diam., forming 3 or 4 bundles of 
a dozen each, rounded to the apex, narrowed gradually to the 
sessile base, bright yellow 1 when ripe, the flesh fit to eat without 
cooking. Universally cultivated throughout the tropical zone 
of both hemispheres for the sake of its fruit, and yielding also 
a fibre, which is much inferior in tenacity to that of M. textilis. 
The following are its subspecies and principal varieties, to 
which Latin names have been given, viz. 
Var. M. violacea, Hort. Stem, fruit, and also often leaves 
beneath more or less tinged with violet. 
Var. M. sanguine a, Welw. Leaves and fruit strongly 
tinged with blood-red. 
Var. M. odorata, Lour. FI. Cochinch. 644. Fruit delicate 
and fragrant. 
Var. M. mensaria, Rumph. Amboin. V, 131. Fruit very 
palatable, subglobose, as large as an apple ; flesh soft yellow ; 
skin pealing away easily. Malay name Pissang Medji. Ripens 
early and soon decays. 
Var. M. regia, Rumph. Amboin. V, 13 1. Fruit as long as 
a man’s finger, an inch thick, very sweet and delicate in taste. 
Malay name Pissang Radji. Nearly allied to this is the 
Gingeli of Bourbon. 
Var. M. oleracea, Vieill. in Ann. Sc. Nat. 1861, 46. A 
flowerless form, with a glaucous violet stem and an elongated 
thick turnip-like rhizome, which is boiled or roasted like a yam, 
which it resembles in taste. New Caledonia. Native name 
Poiete . 
