Musa balbisiana

Musa balbisiana
The fruit of Musa balbisiana, showing numerous seeds.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Musaceae
Genus:	Musa
Species:	M. balbisiana
Binomial name
Musa balbisiana Colla 1820

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 maroon. The fruit are between blue and green. They are considered inedible because of the seeds they contain. It may be assumed that wild bananas used to be cooked and eaten or agriculturalists would not have developed the cultivated banana.^[1]

Seeded Musa balbisiana are called "butuhan" ('with seeds') in the Philippines.^[2] Natural parthenocarpic clones occur through polyploidy and produce edible bananas. Examples of which are wild Saba Bananas.^[3]

They were first described in 1820 by the Italian botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla.^[4]

See Also

• Banana
• Banana Cultivar Groups
• Musa
• Musa acuminata
• Plantain
• Saba Banana

References

1. ^ Musa balbisiana
2. ^ "Progenitors of Edible Bananas". Guide to Growing Bananas, http://www.bananacrop.com/.+11/01/2010. http://www.bananacrop.com/2010/01/progenitors-of-edible-bananas-in.html. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
3. ^ Michel H. Porcher; Prof. Snow Barlow (19/07/2002). "Sorting Musa names". The University of Melbourne, [1]. http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Musa.html. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
4. ^ "Musa paradisiaca". http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/mparadisiaca.htm 

External links

• Musa balbisiana
• A type of wild banana