Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 35]
17.
Musa Paradisiaca Linn. The Plaintain Tree.
This Tree which is a Native only of the Equinoctial parts of Asia, and whose Fruit is now the most universal and useful in the Torrid Zone, was translated by the Portuguese from Cananon in the East Indies to the Brazils.
It was also brought to St. Domingo from the Canaries by Thomas de Borlanga a Friar, in the Year 1516, but had come to these Islands as he was informed from the East Indies.M From these Sources it has now spread over all the West Indies, and a great part of the Continent of America, where in most places its Fruit serves as the chief article in the Sustenance of the Inhabitants. It does not thrive better under the Equator in Asia than in the Island of Jamaica, its Fruit is there in the utmost perfection, and the vegetation of its Stem visible, which in hour Sir Hans Sloane perceived to rise half an Inch in height.N
Conclusion.
These 17 Plants we have now enumerate, are all Natives of the Torrid Zone in Asia, which have at different times been translated to the Torrid Zone in America, where they thrive equally as in their Native Climate, and thereby give a certain Prospect of Success in translating from Asia, the Commercial Plants of the above Catalogues which are still wanting in America.
In fine
___________________________________________________________________________________
M. Sloane's Nat. hist of Jamaica. Vol. 2 p. 143
N. Sloane's Nat. hist of Jamaica Vol. 2 p. 143