Nature’s Institution for the Promotion Of Laziness. Bananas: What they are, how they grow, what they cost, and what they give to man.
Long before the dawn of history in the Old World, mayhap long before that Old World arose from the waters, man lived on the fruit of the Musas. There are those who would tell you that the banana is the fruit which tempted Eve, to the downfall of Adam; and that evidence of the truth of this may be found in the fact that if one will cut across a banana, of the right kind, he may find in its heart the sign of the cross; and in the other fact that men of learning have given to a banana the name of Musa paradisiaca, which being interpreted means the Fruit of paradise, and to another banana they have given the name Musa sapientum, which the sapient know means the Fruit of knowledge. Less evidence has served well enough to burn heretics at the stake.
A BUNCH OF BANANAS
A BUNCH OF BANANAS
Man has carried this gigantic herb to every fertile spot in a belt that girdles the waist of the globe—a girdle that is four thousand miles and more in width. Millions uncounted have looked to it for the chief of their diet, as other millions have looked to the cereals. And to this hour puling babes and doddering ancients are fed with the fruit in all its stages and conditions, green or over-ripe, raw or roasted, baked or fried, liquid or dried. At least forty species of the Musas are known and described, and of these there are several sub-varieties. They have been classed by Dr. Sagot into three groups, as follows:
Giant bananas, of which M. ensete is the type. In this group no suckers are formed. Fruit leathery and not edible, with few seeds.
Fleshy-fruited bananas; M. sapientum the type. Stem produces suckers; spike long and decurved; fruit fleshy and usually eatable.
Ornamental bananas. Spike often erect, not pendant; bracts persistent, brightly colored, each with a few flowers on its axil; suckers many; fruit leathery. M. rosacea furnish familiar examples of this group.