[Ads-l] banana shrub - 1855; other names

[Barretts Mail]

The other day, I purchased a banana shrub from the TrueValue hardware store in Kula (http://ww3.truevalue.com/kulahardware/Home.aspx <http://ww3.truevalue.com/kulahardware/Home.aspx>). It has a wonderful smell similar to the banana, though it bears no fruit.

Wiktionary has it in a sentence citation at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heliconia <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heliconia>. 

Wikipedia says that the banana shrub is also known as a _Magnolia figo_, a _Michelia figo_, and a port wine magnolia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_figo <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_figo>, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelia>).

The online Oxford Dictionaries (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/port_wine_magnolia <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/port_wine_magnolia>) have only “port wine magnolia,” labeling it an Australian and New Zealander term and dating it to the 1940s.

Monrovia (http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1851/banana-shrub/ <http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1851/banana-shrub/>) says that the banana shrub grows in USDA hardiness zones 8 to 11, was introduced to the US in the 1700s and is a “classic evergreen of the South.”

Citations: For the Latin names, the genera and species names were both capitalized in the 1871 and 1874 books; perhaps that was a common practice then.

banana shrub - 1855
The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs (http://bit.ly/2qdnYgq <http://bit.ly/2qdnYgq>) 
vol. XXI, no. 1, Jan.
“The Hardy Shrubs of the South”
Andrew Gray

Magnolia Buscata is a most magnificent shrub, … but emit an agreeable odor resembling the smell of the fruit of the banana. In fact it is here known by its lady admirers are the Banana shrub.

Magnolia Figo - 1871
The Natural History of Plants, vol. 1 (http://bit.ly/2p9l76R <http://bit.ly/2p9l76R>)
H. Baillon

Michelia, considered by nearly all authors as a separate genus from Magnolia, has exactly the flower of M. Figo, and the receptacle also presents a naked interval between the stamens and the pistil. But in certain species the carpels, instead of always containing two ovules each,3 contain a larger number" in two vertical rows. The fruit and inflorescence, too, are those of M. Figo, and hence we do not put all these plants in different genera. 

portwine magnolia - 1893
The Flower Garden in Australia (http://bit.ly/2prPTbB <http://bit.ly/2prPTbB>) 
Mrs. Rolf Boldrewood

M. anonæfolia (Portwine Magnolia) is a shrining-leafed shrub, with chocolate-colored flowers, deliciously scented. 

Michelia Figo - 1894
Odorographia: A Natural History of Raw Materials and Drugs Used in the Perfume Industry Including the Aromatics Used in Flavouring (evidently the second volume) (http://bit.ly/2pnIqs9 <http://bit.ly/2pnIqs9>)
John Charles Sawer
p. 481

Port-wine Magnolia - 1903 (hyphen at the end of a line, so perhaps this word was not considered hyphenated as in the 1893 citation)
A Guide to the Botanic Gardens, Sydney
Joseph Henry Maiden

_Magnolia fuscata_, Andr. (_Michelin fuscata_, Blume), “Port-wine Magnolia” (often so-called because of its delicious fragrance being fancied to resemble that particular kind of wine).


Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org