Lacatan bananas are diploid banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

 cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s from the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. It is one of the most common banana cultivars in the Philippines, along with the Latundan

Latundan banana

Latundan bananas , are triploid hybrid banana cultivars from the Philippines...

 and Saba

Saba banana

Saba banana, also known as Cardaba banana, is a triploid hybrid banana cultivar originating from the Philippines. It is primarily a cooking banana though it can also be eaten raw. It is one of the most important banana varieties in Philippine cuisine....

 bananas.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

The Lacatan banana is a diploid (AA) cultivar.

Its official designation is Musa acuminata Colla (AA Group) cv. 'Lacatan'.

Synonyms

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

 include:

• Musa x paradisiaca L. ssp. sapientum (L.) Kuntze var. lacatan Blanco
• Musa acuminata Colla (Cavendish Group) cv. 'Lacatan'

The banana cultivar Masak Hijau (Musa acuminata Colla (AAA Group) cv. 'Masak Hijau') is also called 'Lacatan' in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 and the West Indies. To distinguish them from the Philippine Lacatan, they are called 'Jamaican Lacatan'. See Masak Hijau.

Description

Lacatan typically grow to a height of five to nine feet. The fruits can be harvested 8 to 12 months after planting. Lacatan is susceptible to the Banana Bunchy Top virus.

Lacatan fruits are longer and thicker-skinned than the Latundan

Latundan banana

Latundan bananas , are triploid hybrid banana cultivars from the Philippines...

 bananas and turn a characteristic yellow-orange when ripe.

Uses

Lacatan is the most popular dessert banana in the Philippines. It is more expensive than the more common Latundan and Cavendish bananas. Both Latundan and Lacatan, however, are preferred by Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

s over Cavendish.

They have higher β-Carotene

Beta-carotene

β-Carotene is a strongly-coloured red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. It is an organic compound and chemically is classified as a hydrocarbon and specifically as a terpenoid , reflecting its derivation from isoprene units...

 content than other banana cultivars.

See also

• Banana
  Banana
  Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
  
  
• Banana cultivar groups
  Banana cultivar groups
  Almost all modern edible banana and plantain cultivars are hybrids and polyploids of the wild, seeded bananas Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. They are almost always seedless and hence sterile, so they are propagated vegetatively...
  
  
• Masak Hijau banana
• Musa
  Musa (genus)
  Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses....
  
  
• Musa acuminata
  Musa acuminata
  Musa acuminata is a species of wild banana native to Southeast Asia. It is the progenitor of modern edible bananas, along with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 years ago, it is one of the earliest examples of domesticated plants.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:Musa acuminata...