PLANTAIN-TREE. 259 
(282) by engravers and other artists in that wood. 
From its hardness and durability, it may be made into 
cogs for mill-wheels, into axle-trees, N and flood -gates 
for fish-ponds, which are scarcely susceptible of decay. 
The berries are sweet and clammy, and are often eaten 
by children without inconvenience ; though when eaten 
to excess, and particularly if the stones be swallowed, 
they are injurious. An ardent spirit might no doubt be 
obtained from them by distillation. The leaves of the 
yew-tree are extremely poisonous both to the human 
species and to cattle. 
CLASS XXIIL POLYGAMIA. 
MONCECIA. 
270. The PLANTAIN- TREE (Musa paradisiaca), which 
is much cultivated in the West Indies and South America, has a 
soft stem., fifteen or twenty feet high, with several leaves on the 
summit; and bears a fruit of pale yellow colour, somewhat shaped 
like a cucumber, about afoot in length, and two inches thick. 
The leaves are frequently eight feet long, and more than two 
feet broad, and are so thin and tender that they are often torn 
by the wind. The fruit is produced in lunches so large as each 
to weigh forty pounds and upwards. 
To the negroes of the West Indian islands the plan- 
tain is an invaluable fruit, and, like bread to the Euro- 
peans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In 
Jamaica alone many thousand acres are planted with 
these trees. This fruit is usually gathered before it is 
ripe, and, after the skin has been peeled off, is roasted 
for a little while in a clear fire; it is then scraped and 
eaten as bread, for which it is an excellent substitute. 
Plantains are sometimes boiled, and eaten with salt 
