Birds and Nature, Vol. VIII, No. 2, September 1900

Nearly all the authorities on the distribution of plants believe the banana to be a native of Asia and that it was not found in the New World previous to its introduction by man. An argument which strongly supports this theory is the lack of native names for the plant in Mexico and in South America. It was mentioned by the early Latin and Greek writers, but seems to have been unknown to the ancient Egyptians.

Botanical authorities quite generally agree that the numerous varieties of our common banana are produced from Musa sapientum. The generic name, Musa, is by some claimed to have its origin in the Arabic word Moux, their name for this group of plants. Others claim that the name was given in honor of Antonius Musa, a physician who cured Augustus Caesar of a disease that had been considered incurable. The specific name has its origin in the myth that the groves of the banana plant were used by the sages or wise men (sapientes) of India for their councils and for rest, they also partaking of the fruit.

Another species of the genus Musa is called paradisiaca from the mythical story that it was the forbidden fruit of Paradise. The common name of this species is the plantain and by many it is considered the parent of the numerous varieties in cultivation in Asia and the adjacent islands and also in the New World. Many eminent authorities believe that both the banana and the plantain, with the numerous varieties of each, are the same species.

The banana plant is herbaceous and dies down to the ground after fruiting. The true stem is underground and perennial, sending up new shoots each season, which grow rapidly and in a few months bear ripened fruit.

The stalk that bears the flowers grows to a height of from fifteen to twenty feet and is surrounded by the sheathing bases of the leaves. The flower cluster or spike is terminal and from two to four feet in length and nodding. The oblong leaves are dark green in color, from five to ten feet in length, and from one to two feet in width. The beautifully arching leaves and the pendulous cluster of flowers or fruits forms an attractive foliage and makes the plant a noted ornament for the garden.

The many varieties of both the banana and plantain, which vary in taste, color, form and size, are very widely distributed throughout the world, being usually found in a zone bounded by 38 degrees North and 38 degrees South latitude. It is said that a single plant will produce, on the average, in one year three bunches of fruit weighing fifty or more pounds. The amount of labor required in its cultivation is very small, especially in the older plantations.

The number of bananas on a single stalk of the ordinary variety varies from about one hundred to two hundred, with an average of about one hundred and thirty. When a plantation is fully developed growth is so rapid and so constant that ripe bunches of fruit may be gathered each week.

For the best results a good, fertile soil is required. It is interesting to note that but little moisture is needed, for the plants attract water, either from the air or the waters deep under ground, and the surface of the ground is always moist even in a time of unusual drought.

The stalk that bears the heavy bunch of fruit, occasionally weighing as much as eighty pounds, may be easily cut down by a single stroke of a scythe or a machete.

Under cultivation the fruit seldom produces perfect seeds, but if developed in a state of nature it is said that they will mature and that many varieties are produced.

The banana is frequently used in coffee plantations to make the necessary shade for the young coffee plants and at the same time it yields an income while the planter is waiting for the production of the coffee berry.

Natives of the tropics have found the leaves a cool and useful thatching for the roofs of their huts.

The unripe fruits contain a large percentage of starch and the pulp, when dried and reduced to a powder, makes an excellent and nutritious flour or meal. The ripe fruit contains about twenty per cent of starch, the remainder having been changed into sugar during the process of ripening. Even intoxicating drinks are made by the Africans from the juice, known as "banana beer" and "banana wine." It is not the fruit alone that is used as food, as also the pith, the top of the flower cluster and the young and tender shoots delight the taste and nourish the body.

The economic value of the fibers of some of the species was known to the Chinese and Japanese from remote times. The fiber obtained from the leaves of both the banana and the plantain are valuable in the manufacture of paper and fabrics of various kinds.

One of the most interesting and valuable of the species of Musa is the Wild Plantain (Musa textilis) of the Philippine Islands. The fiber obtained from this plant is the Manila or Cebu hemp of commerce, which is used, in this country, mainly for the manufacture of binding twines, cordage and mats. In France the finer fibers are quite extensively used for the manufacture of fine veils, crapes, hats, delicate underclothing and many other articles of apparel. The natives of the Philippines call this fiber Abaca. It is called Manila because most of the fiber is exported from the seaport of that name. We are told that "Manila hemp began to be used extensively in this country, in Salem and Boston, in 1824 to 1827."

Probably the most peculiar of all the species is the Chinese banana (Musa Cavendishii), which is extensively cultivated in China and throughout the South Sea Islands. It is a dwarf, the plant seldom attaining a height of more than six feet. It is robust and yields a great harvest of fruit, a single bunch bearing from two hundred to three hundred bananas, the flavor of which is excellent.

The opposite of the Chinese form is the Abyssinian (Musa ensete), which may be called the giant plantain. It attains a height of thirty or more feet and the leaves are sometimes twenty feet long by three feet wide. The fruit is pulpless and dry, but the inner part of the stalk and the young stalks are boiled and used for food. It is without doubt the most handsome species of this wonderfully useful and beautiful group of plants.

    William Kerr Higley.