A high botanical authority includes in his
description of the species indigenous to Queensland, "Fruit oblong,
succulent, indehiscent; seed numerous; tree-like herbs. Herbs with
perennial rhizome."
There are three if not more species of bananas native to Queensland, and
they form a conspicuous feature of the jungle. With remarkable rapidity
one of the species shoots up a ruddy symmetrical, slightly tapering
stem--smooth and polished where the old leaf-sheaths have been shed--to a
height of 20 and 30 feet, producing leaves 15 feet long and 2 feet broad,
small and crude flowers, and bunches of dwarf fruit containing little but
shot-like seeds. The energy of these plants seems to be concentrated in
the production of an elegant and proud form, the fruit being a mere
afterthought. But the effect of the broad pale green leaves, even when
frayed and ragged at the edges in and among the dark entanglement of the
jungle is so fine that the absence of edible fruit may be almost
forgiven.
In the most popular of the cultivated varieties, the far famed MUSA
CAVENDISHII, there is little of graceful form, save the broad leaves
mottled with brown. All the vitality of the plant is expended in
astonishing results.
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