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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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BAN'ANA, n. A species of the genus Musa, or plantain tree, and its fruit. It rises 15 or 20 feet high, with a soft stalk, marked with dark purple stripes and spots,with leaves six feet long, and a foot broad. The flowers grow in bunches, covered with a sheath of a fine purple color.
The fruit is four or five inches long, and an inch or more in diameter; the pulp soft and of a luscious taste. When ripe, it is eaten raw, or fried in slices. Bananas grow in large bunches weighing a dozen pounds or more. This tree is the native of tropical countries, and on many isles, constitutes an important article of food.
A perennial
herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (Musa sapientum); also, its
edible fruit. See Musa.
* The banana has a soft, herbaceous stalk, with leaves of great length and breadth. The flowers grow in bunches, covered with a sheath of a green or purple color; the fruit is five or six inches long, and over an inch in diameter; the pulp is soft, and of a luscious taste, and is eaten either raw or cooked. This plant is a native of tropical countries, and furnishes an important article of food. Banana bird (Zoöl.), a small American bird (Icterus leucopteryx), which feeds on the banana. -- Banana quit (Zoöl.), a small bird of tropical America, of the genus Certhiola, allied to the creepers. | ||||||||