Musaceae

Ensete Bruce ex Horan.

Last edited by Pieter B. Pelser, 12 August 2017

Ensete glaucum (Roxb.) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2 (1948) 101; ≡ Musa glauca Roxb., Pl. Coromandel 3 (1819) 96; Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 387; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 221. Distribution: LUZON: Batangas (photos), Cavite, Laguna, MINDORO. Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1). Native.
- var. glaucum. = Musa troglodytarum L. var. dolioliformis Blanco, Fl. Filip., 1st Ed. (1837) 855. Distribution: Myanmar, Nepal to Papuasia, Philippines. LUZON: Cavite, Laguna. Notes: Ravines, etc., at low and medium elevation. Native.

Cultivated, not naturalized

Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2 (1948) 101; ≡ Musa ventricosa Welw., Apont. (1859) 587. = Ensete edule Bruce ex Horan., Prodr. Monogr. Scitam. (1862) 40. = Musa ensete J.F.Gmel., Syst. Nat., 13th Ed. (1791) 567. Notes: Indigenous in Africa. Cultivated, not naturalized.

Musa L.

Last edited by Pieter B. Pelser & John Edward M. Villasis, 2 June 2026

Musa acuminata Colla, Mem. Reale Accad. Sci. Torino 25 (1820) 66. = Musa cavendishii I.M.Lamb ex Paxton var. hawaiiensis N.G.Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 410. Distribution: Andaman Isls, Bangladesh, Borneo, China, India, Java, Laos, Lesser Sunda Isls, Malay Peninsula, Myanmar, Nicobar Isls, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Thailand, Vietnam. BALABAC, LUZON: Bulacan, Camarines Sur (photos), Ifugao, Isabela (photos), Laguna, NCR, MINDANAO: Bukidnon (photos), Davao de Oro (photos), Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, MINDORO, SAMAR. Notes: In shaded and moist ravines, often forming sizeable populations that dominate over large areas. Usually cultivated and present widely in villages and disturbed areas. Wild plants bear fruits containing numerous seeds making them inedible, but seeds are absent in cultivated forms. 914m. Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1). Native.
- ssp. errans (Blanco) R.V.Valmayor, Philipp. Agric. Sci. 84 (2001) 328; ≡ Musa errans (Blanco) N.G.Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 390; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 221; ≡ Musa troglodytarum L. var. errans Blanco, Fl. Filip., 1st Ed. (1837) 247. Distribution: Endemic to the Philippines. BALABAC, LUZON: Bulacan, Laguna. Native.
Musa × alinsanaya R.V.Valmayor, Philipp. Agric. Sci. 87 (2004) 117; Type: Lelita Gonzal VH 1280 (Leyte State University, Botanical Herbarium, holo), Leyte: Baybay, Leyte State University, Musa Germplasm Bank, 10-Jul-2003. Distribution: Endemic to the Philippines. Notes: The plant was taken into the cultivation from Philippines (Valmayor 2001). The name was published illegitimately twice (Valmayor 2001: 330; Valmayor et al. 2002: 240) (McNeill et al. 2006: Art. 37.7), since the holotype was not indicated. Valmayor’s (2001) description is based upon a putative hybrid M. banksii × textilis, characterised by Brewbaker & Gorrez (1956: 263). Native.
Musa balbisiana Colla, Mem. Reale Accad. Sci. Torino 25 (1820) 384. Distribution: Andaman Isls, Bismarck Arch, China, India, Japan, Java, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Isls, Philippines, Ryukyu Isls, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam. LUZON: Apayao, Bataan, Benguet (photos), Bulacan, Cagayan, Laguna, Rizal, MINDORO. Notes: In ravines in evergreen forests, at low and medium elevation, or on cleared hill slopes covered in shrubs and grasses. Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1). Native.
- var. balbisiana. = Musa rosacea Jacq., Pl. Rar. Hort. Schoenbr. 4 (1804) 23; Type: Plate 445 in Jacquin (1804; lecto). = Musa errans var. botoan N.G.Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 391; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 221. Distribution: India to Papuasia, Philippines. LUZON: Apayao, Bataan, Benguet (photos), Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal. Notes: Low and medium elevation forests. Native.
Musa coccinea Andrews, Bot. Repos. 1 (1799) t.47. = Musa uranoscopos Lour., Fl. Cochinch. (1790) 645, nom. illeg., nom. superfl. Distribution: China, Vietnam. NEGROS. Notes: Introduced and occasionally planted on account of its very showy red bracts. Naturalized.
Musa ornata Roxb., Fl. Ind. (Carey & Wallich) 2 (1824) 488. Distribution: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar. Notes: This species is widely cultivated for its commercial and ornamental value, whether grown outdoors in the landscape or indoors as a houseplant. John Edward Matulina Villasis (31-Aug-24): Naturalized in thickets and jungles. Naturalized.
Musa × paradisiaca L., Sp. Pl., 1st Ed. (1753) 1043; Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 412; Merr., Fl. Manila (1912) 154; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 221. = Musa nigra Perr., Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 3 (1825) 131. Distribution: Malay Peninsula, Philippines. Notes: Plantain or cooking bananas. A number of forms or varieties occur in the Philippines, which from a species standpoint are hardly discerned from Musa sapientum L., the bananas. Blanco (1837), Teodoro (1915) and Quisumbing (1919) have attempted to document all these entities in the Philippines. These were subsequently summarized by Merrill (1922) and a few others. J.E.M. Villasis (31-May-26): a hybrid of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana, both of which are native to the Philippines. Native.
Musa × sapientum L., Syst. Nat., 10th Ed. 2 (1759) 1303; Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 393; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 222; ≡ Musa x paradisiaca L. ssp. sapientum (L.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2 (1891) 692. = Musa × chapara Perr., Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 3 (1825) 131. Notes: Described from material of Philippine origin, type unknown and diagnosis is too poor to allow identification, Musa chapara has been regarded as a synonym of Musa sapientum L. (Schumann 1900; Champion 1967). The familiar table bananas, usually distinguished from the plantains (Musa paradisiaca L.) in the consistency and character of the mature fruits. Musa sapientum has been repeatedly shown to represent Musa cultivars (AB, AAB, ABB group). Therefore all infraspecific taxa described represent various cultivars, unless otherwise shown. According to Simmonds (1960), Linnaeus originally applied the name M. sapientum to the “Silk fig” (AAB group). Native.
Musa textilis Née, Anales Ci. Nat. 4 (1801) 123; Teodoro, PJS 10c (1915) 388; Merrill, EPFP 1 (1923) 227; Christenhusz, Phytotaxa 2 (2009) 53; Type: Elmer 17106 (BM, neo), Luzon: Sorsogon, Mt Bulusan. = Musa mindanaensis Miq., Fl. Ned. Ind. 3 (1859) 588. Distribution: Endemic to the Philippines. LEYTE (photos), LUZON: Aurora (photos), Camarines Sur (photos), Sorsogon, MINDANAO: Cotabato (photos), PALAWAN. Notes: Extensively cultivated in the wetter parts of the Philippines. Abaca or Manila hemp. The species is variable, and sundry forms have distinctive local names. P.B. Pelser & J.P. Collantes (16-Jul-23): Christenhusz (2009) suggests that Musa textilis may be native to Borneo and that it might have been introduced to the Philippines. John Edward Matulina Villasis (31-Aug-24): Native to the Philippines: despite being widely cultivated in the Philippines, wild varieties can still be found in the interior forests away from cultivated areas. The center of origin of Musa textilis is in the southeastern portion of Luzon, catering to the greatest number of cultivars and wild types (Yllano et al., 2020). Wild plants may have spread southward into Borneo and islands south of the Philippines, e.g. Sangihe Isls (Indonesia) through an earlier introduction. Häkkinen (cited in Sachter-Smith, 2023) suspected that this species is introduced to Borneo, there naturalized and hybridized producing forms that obscure the delineation between them. Members of sect. Callimusa in northern and northwestern Borneo possibly arose from this species. Conservation status: Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1). Native.
Musa velutina H.Wendl. & Drude, Gartenflora 24 (1875) 65. Distribution: India. Notes: Matulina Villasis (31-Aug-24): Naturalized. This species is grown as an ornamental plant, but sometimes cultivated for its soft, sweet fruits. Naturalized.

Cultivated, not naturalized

Musa rubra Wall. ex Kurz, J. Agric. Soc. India 14 (1867) 301. = Musa laterita Cheesman, Kew Bull. 4 (1949) 265. Distribution: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand. Notes: J.E.M. Villasis (31-May-26): widely cultivated for its ornamental value. Cultivated, not naturalized.
Musa troglodytarum L., Sp. Pl., 2nd Ed. (1763) 1478. = Musa uranoscopos Lour., Fl. Cochinch. (1790) 645, nom. illeg., nom. superfl. Cultivated, not naturalized.

References

Backer, CA & RC Bakhuizen van den Brink. 1968. Flora of Java 3: 35-38.
Christenhusz, MJM. 2009. Typification of ornamental plants: Musa textilis (Musaceae). Phytotaxa 2: 53-54.
Häkkinen, M & H Väre. 2008. Typification and checklist of Musa L. names (Musaceae) with nomenclatural notes. Adansonia, ser. 3, 30: 63-112
Quisumbing EA. 1919. Studies of Philippine bananas. Philippine Agricultural Review 12: 9-90.
Sachter-Smith, G. 2023. The wild bananas: A catalogue of wild Musa species and tribute to the work of Markku Häkkinen. Bioversity International. Rome, Italy.
Teodoro, NG. 1915. A preliminary study of Philippine bananas. Philippine Journal of Science 10 c (Botany): 379-419.
Väre, H & M Häkkinen. 2011. Typification and check-list of Ensete Horan. names (Musaceae) with nomenclatural notes. Adansonia 33: 191-200
Yllano, OB, MGQ Diaz, AG Lalusin, AC Laurena & EM. Tecson. 2020. Genetic analyses of abaca (Musa textilis Née) germplasm from its primary center of origin, the Philippines, using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. Philippine Agricultural Scientist 103: 311-321.