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• Physical Description
• Distribution
• Growth
• Similar Species
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Taxonomy

Notes:

An accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Physical Description

Family Musaceae:

Herbs perennial or monocarpic, growing from sympodial rhizomes or a massive, sympodial corm. Pseudostems composed of closely packed leaf sheaths. Leaves spirally arranged, petiolate; leaf blade entire, pinnately veined. Inflorescence terminal or rarely axillary, cymose. Bracts spirally arranged, often brilliantly colored, spathelike, large. Flowers bisexual or unisexual by abortion, zygomorphic. Perianth in 2 whorls; 3 outer tepals and 2 inner ones united into a compound tepal; third inner tepal free. Stamens 5, free; anthers 2-loculed. Pistil 1; ovary inferior, 3-loculed; ovules numerous per locule, anatropous; placentation axile. Style simple or capitate. Fruit a berry, fleshy or leathery and dry, indehiscent. Seeds hard, not arillate; embryo straight, surrounded by a well-developed endosperm and a mealy perisperm.

Three genera and ca. 40 species: tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia; three genera (one endemic) and 14 species (four endemic, three introduced) in China.^[1]

Genus Musa:

Underground stems (corms) rhizomatous, short, pseudostems clustered, [0.5--]3--10 m. Leaf blades unlobed (older leaves often split to midrib), oblong or oblong-elliptic, [0.6--]2--3 ´ 0.3--0.6 m. Inflorescences pendent [erect]; pistillate flowers crowded, numerous; bracts of staminate flowers imbricate, forming budlike mass at apex of inflorescence. Berries cylindric, usually ± curved, weakly angled in cross section, [10--]20--35 cm, soft, fleshy. x = 10, 11.

Species ca. 30 (1 species and 1 stable h: introduced; Asia (India to Japan and Indonesia), Australia (Queensland), Pacific Islands (and Oceania) ; often persisting around gardens and plantations in North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Africa, Oceania Pacific Islands (Oceania).

Species of Musa are very important economically throughout the wet tropics. The fruits of several species are edible; they may be sweet (bananas) or starchy (plantains), and may be eaten raw or cooked. Some species are important fiber sources, especially M. textilis Née (abacá or Manila-hemp), and others are grown as ornamentals in subtropical and tropical regions. In addition, the plants have many minor uses in the tropics: banana leaves are used for wrapping and various other purposes, and the corms, the interior of the pseudostems, and the buds of staminate flowers are eaten as vegetables. Bananas used in North America are almost always sweet-fruited cultivars, imported from Central America to be eaten raw or used in cooking.

Prior to 1948, the taxonomy of cultivated bananas was not understood. Since then, it has become clear that most of the cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic diploids, triploids, and tetraploids (2n = 22, 33, 44) derived either from Musa acuminata Colla, M. balbisiana Colla, or hybrids between them (M. ´ paradisiaca Linnaeus). The most common crop bananas in North and Central America are triploid races of M. acuminata (genotype AAA) and triploid M. paradisiaca with two sets of chromosomes from M. acuminata and one from M. balbisiana (genotype AAB). Those two types are very similar morphologically; distinguishing them reliably requires numerical scoring of a large number of characters from the pseudostem, petiole, peduncle, bracts of staminate flowers, and staminate and pistillate flowers (N. W. Simmonds and K. Shepherd 1955), many of which are very difficult to score on herbarium material. The ranges given below, based on herbarium specimens, are tentative, and need to be checked in the field.^[2]

Distribution

Growth

Culture: Space 15-20' apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10b, 11. (map)

Similar Species

Members of the genus Musa:

There are approximately 430 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them: M. kewensis · M. 'African Rhino Horn' (Banana) · M. 'Bordelon' (Banana) · M. 'Brazilian' · M. 'Burmese Blue' · M. 'Butuhan' · M. 'Cardaba' (Banana) · M. 'Cavendish Super Dwarf' · M. 'Cavendish Zan Moreno' · M. 'Chinese Cavendish' · M. 'Double Mahoi' (Banana) · M. 'Dwarf Orinoco' (Dwarf Orinoco Banana) · M.'Dwarf Puerto Rican' (Dwarf Puerto Rican Banana) · M. 'Dwarf Red' (Banana) · M. 'Fhia-01' · M. 'FHIA-21' (Banana) · M. 'Giant' (French Plantain) · M. 'Golden Pillow' · M.'Goldfinger' (Banana) · M. 'Gran Nain' (Banana) · M. 'Helen' · M. 'Kandrian' · M. 'Kru' (Banana) · M. 'Little Prince' (Banana) · M. 'Manzano' (Apple Banana) · M. 'Monkey Fingers' (Banana) · M. 'Pitogo' (Banana) · M. 'Praying Hands' (Praying Hands Banana) · M. 'Rajapuri' (Rajapuri Banana) · M. 'Red Iholena' (Banana) · M. 'Rowe Red' (Banana) · M. 'Royal Pink' · M. 'Royal Purple' · M. 'Royal Red' · M. 'Thousand Fingers' (Banana) · M. 'Tropicana' · M. 'Tuu Ghia' (Banana) · M. 'Violacea' · M. 'Wompa' · M. aa · M. aa sucrier · M. aaa · M. aaa cavendish · M. aaa ibota · M. aaa michel · M. aaa orotava · M. aaa red · M. aaaa · M. aaab · M. aab · M. aab iholena · M. aab kelat · M. aab laknao · M. aab mysore · M. aab nadan · M. aab padaththi · M. aab plantain · M. aab pome · M. aab raja · M. aab silk · M. aabb · M. ab · M. ab poovan · M. abaca · M. abb · M. abb awak · M. abb bluggoe · M. abb mannan · M. abb monthan · M. abb peyan · M. abb saba · M. abbb teparod · M. acuminata (Blood Banana) · M. acuminata 'Bloodleaf' · M. acuminata 'Bordelon' · M. acuminata 'Buitenzorg' · M. acuminata 'Double' · M. acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish' (Dwarf Cavendish Dwarf Banana) · M. acuminata 'Dwarf Namwah Pearl' (Variegated Dwarf Banana) · M. acuminata 'Dwarf Namwah' (Dwarf Banana) · M. acuminata 'Dwarf Red Jamaican' · M. acuminata 'Dwarf Red' · M. acuminata 'Enano Gigante' (Dwarf Giant Banana) · M. acuminata 'Flhorban916' · M. acuminata 'Flhorban917' · M. acuminata 'Flhorban918' · M. acuminata 'Flhorban919' · M. acuminata 'Flhorban920' · M. acuminata 'Flhorban921' · M. acuminata 'Giant Cavendish' · M. acuminata 'Grand Nain' · M. acuminata 'Grand Nain' × acuminata 'Zebrina' · M. acuminata 'High Color Mini' (Dwarf Banana) · M. acuminata 'Ice Cream' (Ice Cream Banana) · M. acuminata 'Igitsiri' · M. acuminata 'Iholena Ula'ula'' · M. acuminata 'Java Blue' (Dwarf Banana) · M. acuminata 'Kru' · M. acuminata 'Lacatan' · M. acuminata 'Lady Finger' (Banana)

Bibliography

• Li Hsi-wen. 1981. Musaceae subfam. Musoideae. In: Wu Te-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 16(2): 1--14.
• Simmonds, N. W. and K. Shepherd. 1955. The taxonomy and origins of the cultivated bananas. J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 55: 302--312.
• Stover, R. H. and N. W. Simmonds. 1987. Bananas, ed. 3. London..

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Notes

Contributors:

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 6, 2006.

Identifiers:

• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 965295

Footnotes:

1. Delin Wu & W. John Kress "Musaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 314. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
2. "Musa". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.