Musa acuminata
Encyclopedia
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.
Musa
(formerly Eumusa) of the genus Musa. It belongs to the family
Musaceae
of the order
Zingiberales
. It is divided into several subspecies
(see section below).
Musa acuminata was first described by the Italian
botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla
in the book Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (1820). Although other authorities have published various names for this species and its hybrids mistaken for different species (notably Musa sapientum by Linnaeus which is now known to be a hybrid of Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana
), Colla's publication is the oldest name for the species and thus has precedence over the others from the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Colla also was the first authority to recognize that both Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana were wild ancestral species, even though the specimen he described was a naturally occurring seedless polyploid like cultivated banana
s.
s (not trees). The trunk (known as the pseudostem) is made of tightly packed layers of leaf
sheaths emerging from completely or partially buried corm
s.
The inflorescence
of Musa acuminata grows horizontally or obliquely from the trunk. The individual flower
s are white to yellowish-white in color and are negatively geotropic (that is, growing upwards and away from the ground). Both male and female flowers are present in a single inflorescence. Female flowers located near the base (and develop into fruit), and the male flowers located at the tipmost top-shaped bud in between leathery bract
s.
The rather slender fruits are berries
, the size of each depends on the number of seeds they contain. Each fruit can have 15 to 62 seeds. Each fruit bunch can have an average of 161.76 ± 60.62 fingers with each finger around 2.4 cm (0.94488188976378 in) by 9 cm (3.5 in) in size.
The seeds of Musa acuminata are around 5 to 6 mm (0.196850393700787 to 0.236220472440945 in) in diamater. They are subglobose or angular in shape and very hard. The tiny embryo is located at the end of the micropyle
. Each seed of Musa acuminata typically produce around four times its size in edible starchy pulp (the parenchyma
, the portion of the bananas we eat), around 0.23 cm³ (0.0140243902439024 cu in). The ratio increases dramatically for the 'seedless
' modern edible cultivars. The much reduced in size and sterile seeds are now surrounded by 23 times its size in edible pulp. The seeds themselves are reduced to tiny black specks along the central axis of the fruit.
by seeds or asexually
by suckers in the wild. Edible parthenocarpic
cultivars are usually cultivated by suckers in plantations or cloned
by tissue culture
. Seeds are also still used in research for developing new cultivars.
Musa acuminata is a pioneer species
. They rapidly exploit newly disturbed areas, like areas recently subjected to forest fires. They are also considered a 'keystone species' in certain ecosystem
s, paving the way for greater wildlife diversity once they have established themselves in an area. They are particularly important as a food source for wildlife due to their rapid regeneration.
Musa acuminata bears flowers that by their very structure, makes it difficult to self-pollinate. It takes about four months for the flower to develop in the fruits, with the fruit clusters at the bases ripening sooner than those at the tip.
A large variety of wildlife feed on the fruits. These include frugivorous
bat
s, bird
s, squirrel
s, tree shrews, civet
s, rat
s, mice
, monkey
s, and ape
s. These animals are also important for seed dispersal
.
Mature seeds germinate readily 2 to 3 weeks after sowing. They can remain viable from a few months to two years of storage. Nevertheless, studies show that clone
seedlings are much more likely to survive than seedlings germinated from seeds.
region of Malesia
and most of mainland Indochina
. Malesia (not to be confused with Malaysia, one of its components) is an area extending from Papua New Guinea
and Northern Australia
in the southeast; Sumatra
, Indonesia
in the west; and Luzon
island of the Philippines
in the north.
Musa acuminata favors wet tropical climates in contrast to the hardier Musa balbisiana, the species it hybridized extensively with to provide almost all modern cultivars of edible bananas. Subsequent spread of the species outside of its native region is thought to be purely the result of human intervention. Early farmers introduced M. acuminata into the native range of M. balbisiana resulting in hybridization and the development of modern edible clones.
AAB cultivars were spread from somewhere around the Philippines 4000 years ago and resulted in the distinct banana cultivars known as the Maia Maoli or Popoulo group bananas in the Pacific islands. They may have been introduced as well to South America
during Precolumbian times from contact with early Polynesian sailors, although evidence of this is debatable.
Westward spread included Africa
which already had evidence of Musa acuminata × Musa balbisiana hybrid cultivation from as early as 1000
to 400 BC
. They were probably introduced first to Madagascar
from Indonesia
.
From West Africa
, they were introduced to the Canary islands
by the Portuguese
in the 16th century, and from there were introduced to Hispaniola
(modern Haiti
) in 1516.
, while hybrids of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana are mostly cooking bananas or plantain
s.
Musa acuminata is one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by human
s for agriculture
. They were first domesticated in Southeast Asia
and surrounding areas (possibly New Guinea
, eastern Indonesia
, and the Philippines
) at around 8000 B.C. It has been suggested that M. acuminata may have originally been domesticated for parts other than the fruit. Either for fiber, for construction materials, or for its edible male bud. They were selected early for parthenocarpy
and seed sterility
in their fruits, a process that might have taken thousands of years. This initially lead to the first 'human-edible' banana diploid clones (modern AA cultivars). Diploid clones are still able to produce viable seeds when pollinated by wild species. This resulted in the development of Triploid clones which were conserved for their larger fruit.
M. acuminata were later introduced into mainland Indochina
into the range of another ancestral wild banana species - Musa balbisiana
, a hardier species of lesser genetic diversity than M. acuminata. Hybridization between the two resulted in drought-resistant edible cultivars. Modern edible banana and plantain cultivars are derived from permutations of hybridization and polyploidy of the two.
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....
native to Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. It is the progenitor of modern edible bananas, along with Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana is a species of wild banana native to South Asia. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas along with Musa acuminata. It grows lush leaves in clumps and grows with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to...
. First cultivated by humans around 8000 years ago, it is one of the earliest examples of domesticated plants.
Taxonomy and nomenclature
Musa acuminata belongs to sectionSection (botany)
In botany, a section is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections are typically used to help organise very large genera, which may have hundreds of species...
Musa
Muša
Mūša is a river in Northern Lithuania and Southern Latvia , having its confluence with river Nemunėlis , in Latvia, near city Bauska. Mūša is a tributary of the river Lielupė. Mūša is 164 kilometres long....
(formerly Eumusa) of the genus Musa. It belongs to the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Musaceae
Musaceae
Musaceae is a botanical name for a family of flowering plants. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves with overlapping basal sheaths that form a pseudostem making some members appear to be woody trees.The family has been...
of the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Zingiberales
Zingiberales
Zingiberales is an order of flowering plants. The order has been widely recognised by the taxonomists, at least for the past few decades. This order includes many familiar plants like ginger, cardamom, turmeric, galangal and myoga of the Zingiberaceae or ginger family, and bananas and plantains...
. It is divided into several subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
(see section below).
Musa acuminata was first described by the Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla
Luigi Aloysius Colla
Luigi Aloysius Colla was an Italian botanist of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. He was a member of the Provisional Government of Savoy from December 12, 1798 to April 2, 1799, taking his turn as chairman of the government in rotation for a ten-day term...
in the book Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (1820). Although other authorities have published various names for this species and its hybrids mistaken for different species (notably Musa sapientum by Linnaeus which is now known to be a hybrid of Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana is a species of wild banana native to South Asia. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas along with Musa acuminata. It grows lush leaves in clumps and grows with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to...
), Colla's publication is the oldest name for the species and thus has precedence over the others from the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Colla also was the first authority to recognize that both Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana were wild ancestral species, even though the specimen he described was a naturally occurring seedless polyploid like cultivated 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....
s.
Description
Musa acuminata are perennial herbHerb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s (not trees). The trunk (known as the pseudostem) is made of tightly packed layers of leaf
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
sheaths emerging from completely or partially buried corm
Corm
A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ....
s.
The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
of Musa acuminata grows horizontally or obliquely from the trunk. The individual flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are white to yellowish-white in color and are negatively geotropic (that is, growing upwards and away from the ground). Both male and female flowers are present in a single inflorescence. Female flowers located near the base (and develop into fruit), and the male flowers located at the tipmost top-shaped bud in between leathery bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s.
The rather slender fruits are berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, the size of each depends on the number of seeds they contain. Each fruit can have 15 to 62 seeds. Each fruit bunch can have an average of 161.76 ± 60.62 fingers with each finger around 2.4 cm (0.94488188976378 in) by 9 cm (3.5 in) in size.
The seeds of Musa acuminata are around 5 to 6 mm (0.196850393700787 to 0.236220472440945 in) in diamater. They are subglobose or angular in shape and very hard. The tiny embryo is located at the end of the micropyle
Micropyle
A micropyle is small opening in the surface of an ovule, through which the pollen tube penetrates, often visible as a small pore in the ripe seed....
. Each seed of Musa acuminata typically produce around four times its size in edible starchy pulp (the parenchyma
Parenchyma
Parenchyma is a term used to describe a bulk of a substance. It is used in different ways in animals and in plants.The term is New Latin, f. Greek παρέγχυμα - parenkhuma, "visceral flesh", f. παρεγχεῖν - parenkhein, "to pour in" f. para-, "beside" + en-, "in" + khein, "to pour"...
, the portion of the bananas we eat), around 0.23 cm³ (0.0140243902439024 cu in). The ratio increases dramatically for the 'seedless
Parthenocarpy
In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules. The fruit is therefore seedless. Stenospermocarpy may also produce apparently seedless fruit, but the seeds are actually aborted while still small...
' modern edible cultivars. The much reduced in size and sterile seeds are now surrounded by 23 times its size in edible pulp. The seeds themselves are reduced to tiny black specks along the central axis of the fruit.
Ecology
Musa acuminata are propagated sexuallySexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...
by seeds or asexually
Asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction is a mode of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single parent, and inherit the genes of that parent only, it is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. A more stringent definition is agamogenesis which is reproduction without...
by suckers in the wild. Edible parthenocarpic
Parthenocarpy
In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules. The fruit is therefore seedless. Stenospermocarpy may also produce apparently seedless fruit, but the seeds are actually aborted while still small...
cultivars are usually cultivated by suckers in plantations or cloned
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
by tissue culture
Tissue culture
Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells separate from the organism. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar...
. Seeds are also still used in research for developing new cultivars.
Musa acuminata is a pioneer species
Pioneer species
Pioneer species are species which colonize previously uncolonized land, usually leading to ecological succession. They are the first organisms to start the chain of events leading to a livable biosphere or ecosystem...
. They rapidly exploit newly disturbed areas, like areas recently subjected to forest fires. They are also considered a 'keystone species' in certain ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s, paving the way for greater wildlife diversity once they have established themselves in an area. They are particularly important as a food source for wildlife due to their rapid regeneration.
Musa acuminata bears flowers that by their very structure, makes it difficult to self-pollinate. It takes about four months for the flower to develop in the fruits, with the fruit clusters at the bases ripening sooner than those at the tip.
A large variety of wildlife feed on the fruits. These include frugivorous
Frugivore
A frugivore is a fruit eater. It can be any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type. Because approximately 20% of all mammalian herbivores also eat fruit, frugivory is considered to be common among mammals. Since frugivores eat a lot of fruit they are highly dependent...
bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, tree shrews, civet
Civet
The family Viverridae is made up of around 30 species of medium-sized mammal, including all of the genets, the binturong, most of the civets, and the two African linsangs....
s, rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, mice
MICE
-Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...
, monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
s, and ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
s. These animals are also important for seed dispersal
Seed dispersal
Seed dispersal is the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and consequently rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both abiotic and biotic vectors. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant...
.
Mature seeds germinate readily 2 to 3 weeks after sowing. They can remain viable from a few months to two years of storage. Nevertheless, studies show that clone
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...
seedlings are much more likely to survive than seedlings germinated from seeds.
Distribution
Musa acuminata is native to the biogeographicalBiogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
region of Malesia
Malesia
Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...
and most of mainland Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. Malesia (not to be confused with Malaysia, one of its components) is an area extending from Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and Northern Australia
Northern Australia
The term northern Australia is generally known to include two State and Territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory . The part of Western Australia north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included...
in the southeast; Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
in the west; and Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
island of 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...
in the north.
Musa acuminata favors wet tropical climates in contrast to the hardier Musa balbisiana, the species it hybridized extensively with to provide almost all modern cultivars of edible bananas. Subsequent spread of the species outside of its native region is thought to be purely the result of human intervention. Early farmers introduced M. acuminata into the native range of M. balbisiana resulting in hybridization and the development of modern edible clones.
AAB cultivars were spread from somewhere around the Philippines 4000 years ago and resulted in the distinct banana cultivars known as the Maia Maoli or Popoulo group bananas in the Pacific islands. They may have been introduced as well to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
during Precolumbian times from contact with early Polynesian sailors, although evidence of this is debatable.
Westward spread included Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
which already had evidence of Musa acuminata × Musa balbisiana hybrid cultivation from as early as 1000
5th century BC
The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC.-Overview:This century saw the beginning of a period of philosophical brilliance among Western civilizations, particularly the Greeks which would continue all the way through the 4th century until the time of...
to 400 BC
10th century BC
The 10th century BC started the first day of 1000 BC and ended the last day of 901 BC.- Overview :This period followed the Bronze Age collapse in the Near East, and the century saw the Early Iron Age take hold there. The Greek Dark Ages which had come about in 1200 BC continued. The Neo-Assyrian...
. They were probably introduced first to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
from Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
From West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, they were introduced to the Canary islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
by the Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
in the 16th century, and from there were introduced to Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
(modern Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
) in 1516.
Domestication
In 1955, Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd revised the classification of modern edible bananas based on their genetic origins. Their classification depends on how many of the characteristics of the two ancestral species (Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana) are exhibited by the cultivars. Most banana cultivars which exhibit purely or mostly Musa acuminata genomes are dessert bananasBanana
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....
, while hybrids of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana are mostly cooking bananas or plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
s.
Musa acuminata is one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. They were first domesticated in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and surrounding areas (possibly New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, eastern Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and 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...
) at around 8000 B.C. It has been suggested that M. acuminata may have originally been domesticated for parts other than the fruit. Either for fiber, for construction materials, or for its edible male bud. They were selected early for parthenocarpy
Parthenocarpy
In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules. The fruit is therefore seedless. Stenospermocarpy may also produce apparently seedless fruit, but the seeds are actually aborted while still small...
and seed sterility
Sterility (physiology)
Sterility is the physiological inability to effect sexual reproduction in a living thing, members of whose kind have been produced sexually. The term may be used in reference to* types of organism, such as the mule, a sterile hybrid;...
in their fruits, a process that might have taken thousands of years. This initially lead to the first 'human-edible' banana diploid clones (modern AA cultivars). Diploid clones are still able to produce viable seeds when pollinated by wild species. This resulted in the development of Triploid clones which were conserved for their larger fruit.
M. acuminata were later introduced into mainland Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
into the range of another ancestral wild banana species - Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana
Musa balbisiana is a species of wild banana native to South Asia. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas along with Musa acuminata. It grows lush leaves in clumps and grows with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to...
, a hardier species of lesser genetic diversity than M. acuminata. Hybridization between the two resulted in drought-resistant edible cultivars. Modern edible banana and plantain cultivars are derived from permutations of hybridization and polyploidy of the two.
Subspecies
Musa acuminata is highly variable and the number of subspecies accepted can vary from six to nine between different authorities. The following are the most commonly accepted subspecies:- Musa acuminata subsp. burmannica Simmonds
-
- = Musa acuminata subsp. burmannicoides De Langhe
- Found in Burma, southern India, and Sri Lanka.
- Musa acuminata subsp. errans Argent
- = Musa errans Teodoro, Musa troglodyatarum L. var. errans, Musa errans Teodoro var. botoan
- Known as Fleur de banane des Philippines in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and saging matsing and saging chonggo (both meaning 'monkey banana'), saging na ligao ('wild banana'), and agutay in the FilipinoFilipino languageThis move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
. Found in the Philippines. It is a significant maternal ancestor of many modern dessert bananas (AA and AAA groups). It is an attractive subspecies with blue-violet inflorescence and very pale green unripe fruits.- Musa acuminata subsp. malaccensis (Ridley) Simmonds
- = Musa malaccensis Ridley
- Found in peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. It is the paternal parent of the latundan bananaLatundan bananaLatundan bananas , are triploid hybrid banana cultivars from the Philippines...
.- Musa acuminata subsp. microcarpa (Beccari) Simmonds
- = Musa microcarpa Beccari
- Found in Borneo. It is the ancestor of the cultivar 'Viente Cohol'
- Musa acuminata subsp. siamea Simmonds
- Found in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.
- Musa acuminata subsp. truncata (Ridley) Kiew
- Musa acuminata subsp. zebrinaBlood bananaThe blood banana , is a subspecies of the wild banana Musa acuminata native to Sumatra, Indonesia. The blood banana is an ornamental plant, named for the dark red patches on its leaves, though its small seeded fruits are also edible.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:The blood banana is a subspecies of the...
(Van Houtte) R. E. Nasution
- Commonly known as blood bananaBlood bananaThe blood banana , is a subspecies of the wild banana Musa acuminata native to Sumatra, Indonesia. The blood banana is an ornamental plant, named for the dark red patches on its leaves, though its small seeded fruits are also edible.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:The blood banana is a subspecies of the...
s. Native to Java. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for the dark red patches of color on their predominantly dark green leaves. They have very slender pseudostems with fruits containing seeds like that of grapeGrapeA grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s. It is one of the earliest bananas spread eastwards to the Pacific and westward towards Africa where it became the paternal parent of the East African Highland bananasEast African Highland bananasEast African Highland bananas are triploid banana cultivars originating from East Africa. They are a staple food crop in Uganda and other east African countries and are used to make Matoke....
(the Mutika/Lujugira subgroup of the AAA group). In Hawaii it is known as the Mai'a 'Oa, and is of cultural and folk medicinal significance as the only seeded bananas to be introduced to the islands before European contact.
See also
- History of agricultureHistory of agricultureAgriculture was developed at least 10,000 years ago, and it has undergone significant developments since the time of the earliest cultivation. The Fertile Crescent of Western Asia, Egypt, and India were sites of the earliest planned sowing and harvesting of plants that had previously been gathered...
- BananaBananaBanana 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 GroupsBanana cultivar groupsAlmost 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...
- MusaMusa (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 balbisianaMusa balbisianaMusa balbisiana is a species of wild banana native to South Asia. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas along with Musa acuminata. It grows lush leaves in clumps and grows with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to...