The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-05-30
From the Florida Dispatch, May 22l
THE BANANA-[ Ausa Sapientun,.
Plant, Flower and Fruit.

Our highly valued correspondent, who
is true lover of plants and trees, and a
close and delicate observer of nature,
kindly sends us the following very perfect
description of the banana, it's infiores-
cence, modification, reproduction, etc.
Editors Of the Florida Dispatch:
was gratifed in reading your article
in the Dispatch of the lst of May, to see
prominence given to the above subject.
Nothing can be more interesting to an
observer of the habits of plants than the
fruiting of the banana From among the
grand leaves, which rise from the large
trunk, ten or fifteen feet above the root, a
germ shoots, which energies into a stem
an inch and half in diameter, green and
strong. Upon the end of this the bud or
pod forms, of brown color, and in matu-
rity takes the shape of full ear of corn,
more enlarged at the base, the brown
shield lying close, something like the shuck
upon the solid ear. After the stem attains
some length, bending downward with its
weight in the time of ripening, an outer
layer from one side of the long pod lifts
itself, and exposes close to the base the
germs of fingers, as on a hand, which
prove to be the bananas, four. five or six,
as the case may be, pointing downward.
After these attain proper strength the
russell shield which covered them, and
which was gradually lifted to a right
angle with the stem, loosens itself and
falls to the ground then another quarter
of the covering is lifted in the same way,
while new series of bananas is perfected,
and so on, until four, five or six digital
combinations are matured, each falling
compactly upon the other beneath it as
the bananas become full and ripe They
retain the greenness of the leaf until they
attain full size, and before they begin to
turn yellow. According to soil and cli-
mate, and adaptation of the plant, the
number of hands of fruit is greater or
less. Hence, in favorable grove, the
immense punches seen, which are as much
as person can with some labor carry, are
produced. AS the hands mature and the
lid is lifted from the casket, from time to
time, the bulk of the remaining pendant
is diminished, and it is driven, as it were,
to the bottom of the stem, the exposed
bananas maturing above it. But it is soon
seen that the power of fruition is ex-
hausted, and the inner and barren core
pressed to the extremity, still in shapely
form, and concealing the secret of its ste
rility in the close-itting russet case, decays
and falls off. Then commences the thor
ough compacting and ripening of the
mass of bananas, until the strong stem is
cut from the trunk
The shields of the fruit, 80 to call them,
as they fall to the ground, having a rich,
glossy, russell color, which an artist could
hardly produce, are mottled or covered
with misty coating, as if the breath of
sweetness chilled them. This may be
wiped off, and the rich brown appears in
it's perfection. As the shields retain their
shape-long, concave, with fange at the
base where they break from the stem,
and tapering often to lip at the point
they suggest the ancient Roman lamp,
and are most beautiful fower-vessels for
temporary use and ornament on the table,
or hanging, if one invents a mode of sus-
pending them. By Watching from day
to day, as the shields fall, fower-holders
can be supplied for quite season.
Not the least noticeabl "behavior T"
of the casket, is the dripping of sweet
drops from its extreme point, the lacteal
exudation which ceases as the layers re-
fuse to unfold their mysteries, and some
times the fallen shields lie just in posi-
ton to receive the fluid as in vessel.
Besides the luxury of fruit so easily
obtained as the banana, the habit Of the
plant, as well as its grandeur when It's
great leaves stand a. the green shutters
against the riffs of heaven, are an instruc-