Ensete

[T]he figs of the Enſete are not eatable; they are of a tender, ſoft ſubstance; watery, taſteleſs, and in colour and conſiſtence ſimilar to a rotten apricot; they are of a conical form, crooked a little at the lower end, about an inch and a half in length, and an inch in breadth where thickeſt.

Were it not for the enſete, therefore, the Galla would have ſcarce any vegetable food. Mr [James] Bruce thinks that the enſete may have been cultivated in ſome of the gardens of Egypt about Roſetto, but that it was not a native of the country.

On the way I saw, for the first time, Enset, a nice plant, which is described in [James] Bruce's Travels. The Abyssinians use it in baking bread, which is wrapped in it, and gives to it a particular scent, which I do not like.

Here, among his Cycads and his Orchids, his Ensetes and his Dracænas, spade in hand, a wideawake hat on his head, a rare flower in his button-hole, and rustic contentment irradiating his face—here, amid scenery which typifies a botanist's paradise, Sir John Kirk is emphatically At Home.

Another instance of religious influence on diversity of cultivars is found in Ethiopia, where the Ari people cultivate ensete, a relative of the banana (Shigeta 1990). Ensete leaves are used for wrapping, thatching, ground cover for sitting, containers, dresses, ornamentation at funerals and weddings, and shading from sun and rain.