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aoe: § 706 
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way 4 _ MUSA rosacea. 
en : ‘y ope . 
a Mauritius Plantain- Tree. i 
os mY i | or 
\ . . 
why POLYGAMIA MONCGC14. 
Nat. ord. Mus (ivsacn). Jussieu gen.61. 
MUSA. Cal. profunde 2-partitus, lobo superiore et exteriore 5-dentato, 
inferiore et interiore cordato-concayo. Germ. oblongum; stylus cylindra- 
ceus; stigma capitatum 6-radiatum. Bacca cucumerina loculis et seminibus 
ob pulpam evanidis. lores in spadice terminales, spathis persistenti 
tecti, 5-andri, filamento sexto sterili et germine abortivo; ceteri omnes’ 
giferi et 1-andri, filamentis 5 sterilibus. Caulis herbaceus assurgens, vagi 
foliorum longissimis tectus; spadix solitarius cernuus. 
phius in planta sylvestri. Juss. loc. cit. — 
a 
> -2 Af - y : . 
M. rosacea, spadice nutante (y. erecto) floribus masculis deciduis, spathis 
ellipticis obtusissimis, fructh oblongo. Willd. sp. pl. 4. 894. 
Musa rosacea. Jacq. hort, schonb. 4. 22, t.445. Willd. enum. 1026. Hort. 
Kew. ed. 2. 5. 425. : 
There is some difference in the representation of this 
plant in Jacquin’s work from the one before us, but we 
really believe the apparent difference arises principally from 
the upper portion of Jacquin’s plant being withered before 
opening. An accident prevented our being able to exa- 
mine the subject so accurately as we wished. ‘The species 
has been called rosacea by Jacquin, not from the colour 
of the spathe, but from the form into which the valves of 
the spathe expand at the upper withered end in his sample. 
We do not believe that Spadix erectus and Spadix nutans 
are available marks of distinction. Introduced from the 
Mauritius by Sir Joseph Banks in 1805. Drawn at the 
Bayswater collection belonging to Comtesse des Vandes, 
where the plant flowered in ‘the winter. 
«©The Banana or Plantain is generally considered to be 
«of Indian origin; Baron Humboldt, however, has lately 
“ suggested that several species of Musa may possibly be 
“ confounded under the names of Plantain and Banana, 
“and that part of these species may be supposed to be in- 
“ digenous of America. How far the general tradition 
“ said to obtain both in Mexico and Terra Firma, as well 
© as the assertion of Garcilasso della Vega respecting Peru, 
“ may establish the fact of the Musa having been cultivated 
Semina vidit Rum- 
