at the flowering period; it
grows up through the hollow tube formed by the sheaths, emerges above and
bears a large number of inconspicuous tubular flowers closely crowded in
the axils of large, often brightly-coloured, protecting bracts. The fruits
form dense clusters.

[Illustration: Banana (_Musa sapientum_).]

The genus _Musa_ contains about 40 species, widely distributed throughout
the tropics of the Old World, and in some cases introduced into the New
World. In many parts of the tropics they are as important to the
inhabitants as are the grain plants to those living in cooler regions. They
are most successfully cultivated in a hot, damp, tropical climate. The
northern limit of their cultivation (usually _Musa Cavendishii_) is reached
in Florida, south of 29deg lat., the Canary Islands, Egypt and south Japan,
the southern limit in Natal and south Brazil. There has been considerable
discussion as to whether the banana was growing in America before the
discovery of the New World. It has been suggested that it may have been
carried by ocean currents or in some earlier intercourse between the Old
and New Worlds. The evidence, however, of its existence in America at the
time of the discovery of the new continent is not very definite. The unripe
fruit is rich in starch, which in ripening changes into sugar. The most
generally used fruits are derived from _Musa paradisiaca_, of which an
enormous number of varieties and forms exist in cultivation. The
sub-species _sapientum_ (formerly regarded as a distinct species _M.
sapientum_) is the source of the fruits generally known in England as
bananas, and eaten raw, while the name plantain is given to forms of the
species itself _M. paradisiaca_, which require cooking. The species is
probably a native of India and southern Asia. Other species which are used
as fruits are _M. acuminata_ in the Malay Archipelago, _M. Fehi_ in Tahiti,
and _M. Cavendishii_, the so-called Chinese banana, in cooler countries;
the fruit of the last-named has a thinner rind and a delicate, fragrant
flesh. The species, the fruits of which require cooking, are of much
greater importance as an article of food. These often reach a considerable
size; forms are known in East Africa which attain nearly 2 ft. in length
with the thickness of a man's arm. A form of _M. corniculata_, from Cochin
China and the Malay Archipelago, produces only a single fruit, which,
however, affords an adequate meal for three men.