»Voyages aux Indes orientales et à la Chine« 1782

M. Ch. Gaudichaud: Recherches anatomiques sur la tige du Ravenala, de la classe des Monocotylés
in: Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences, Band 21, 1845, S. 391 - 407

»Tout le monde connaît aujourd'hui l'arbre du voyageur, le Ravenala des Madécasses, d'Adanson et de Sonnerat; Urania de Schreb. et de L.-C. Richard; et chacun sait qu'il suffit de percer la base dilatée des feuilles de cet arbre, pour en voir couler aussitôt une abondante quantité d'eau fraîche et suave comme celle d'une source vive; ce qui a fait donner à ce curieux végétal, par les premiers navigateurs qui ont visité Madagascar, le nom qu'il porte, et sous lequel il est généralement connu, celui d'arbre du voyageur.«
In: Macé Descartes 1846: „Histoire et Géographie de Madagascar“

»Le ravinala, connu des Européens et des créoles des îles Maurice et Bourbon sous le nom d'Arbre du voyageur, parceque l'on trouve entre les aisselles de ses feuilles de l'eau très fraîche et très bonne à boire, a le tronc d'un palmier et les feuilles du bananier, avec cette différence que, plus épaisses et plus fortes, elles ne s'affaissent pas comme celles de ce dernier arbre, mais se redressent vigoureusement et se disposent en éventail régulier au sommet de l'arbre.
Le ravinala est très utile aux Malgaches; son bois filamenteux sert à former la charpente, et ses feuilles les parois extérieures, les cloisons et le toît de leurs cases. Ils emploient cncore sa feuille à divers usages domestiques.
Le ravinala croît près des ruisseaux ct dans les marécages, et non dans des lieux secs et arides, comme on l'a prétendu pour colorer d'un peu de merveilleux la propriété qu'il a de fournir au voyageur altéré une boisson rafraîchissante, qui n'est autre que de l'eau de pluie.«
In: L. Desessart: Voyage à Madagascar et aux îles Comores (1823 à 1830). 1840, B. F. Leguével de Lacombe
James Backhouse: A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa. Hamilton, Adams, 1844 - S. 31: Travellers' Tree
William Ellis: Three Travels through madagascar 1852-1854. 1860
Archiv der Pharmazie, Bände 127-130. 1854 S. 249
John Murray: Java, Siam, Canton. 1870, Kap. 15, S. 3

z.B.: Mary and Elizabeth Kirby: Chapters on trees. 1873 London:
»It is called the Travellers' tree (Ravenala Madagascariensis), because of the relief it affords to the weary and thirsty wayfarer. It rises from the ground with a thick succulent stem, like that of the Banana, and sends out long sword-shaped leaves from the top in the same way, only they are less fragile. The leaves do not surround the stem, but are placed opposite each other in two lines, so that when they are fully extended, the tree presents the appearance of a huge open fan. There are twenty-four of these bright green gigantic leaves, that spread out at the top of the stem, and the effect is very striking.
In places where the trees grow abundantly, they form a conspicuous object for miles together, and, if the brilliant and shining leaves were not split up by the breeze, their magnificence could hardly be described. The stalk of each leaf is six or seven feet long, and the broad leaf itself six or eight feet more. The stalks which bear the flowers are shorter and of a stout woody structure. Each flower-stalk bears six or eight pointed sheaths, rigid and stiff in their nature, and filled with numerous erect white flowers, the petals of which are rather more than half a foot in length. The seeds are in pods and enclosed in a tough, firm spathe, like the husks of the cocoa-nut. When the seed-vessels are ripe they burst, and each pod sends forth thirty or forty seeds, in shape like a small bean, but enveloped in a silky fibre of a brilliant blue or purple. A specimen of these beautiful seeds has been brought to England, and is in the museum at Kew.
The great benefit of the Travellers' tree is the supply of water it yields, even in the season of drought, when all other sources fail. It is like a well of water springing up in the desert. The base of the leaf-stalk forms a natural cavity or cistern to hold the water; which trickles, during the rainy season, down the smooth surface of the leaf into it. The cistern becomes quite full and remains so; indeed, it never fails the traveller. He has only to thrust a lance or spear into one of the numerous leaf-stalks, and out will gush a clear cool stream. It never becomes heated, for the rays of the sun cannot reach its retreat, and it is most grateful amid the fatigues of journeying in a tropical clime. The natives of the country have constant recourse to these vegetable cisterns. When they are working near the spot they bring their drinking vessels to the tree to replenish, and are saved the trouble of fetching water from the stream.
Nor is this the only benefit derived from the Ravenala. It might, with equal truth, be called the „builders' tree,“ for its huge leaves are used to thatch the native houses. The stems of the leaves form the partitions between the rooms, and also the walls of the house, while the flooring is made of the hard outer bark, stripped and beaten flat.
The natives also make an oil from the coat of the seeds, and then grind the seeds into a kind of meal, which they mix with milk and use as an article of food. The green leaf is also used as a wrapper for packages, and to keep out the rains. Quantities of it are sold every morning in the native market, and it forms all kinds of domestic articles, such as table-cloths, dishes, and plates, and when folded into certain forms, it serves instead of spoons and drinking vessels«