[FWTA]
Musaceae, F.N. Hepper. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:1. 1968
- Morphology General Habit
- Stems formed by the imbricate bases of the petioles, erect
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves spirally arranged, very large, with a thick midrib and numerous pinnately parallel nerves
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers mostly unisexual, clustered and subtended by large green spathaceous bracts, the male flowers within the upper bracts, the female within the lower
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx elongated, at first narrowly tubular, soon splitting on one side, variously toothed at apex
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla more or less 2-lipped
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium
- Stamens 5 perfect, with a rudimentary sixth, or 6 perfect; filaments filiform; anthers 2-locular, the loculi parallel and contiguous
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, 3-locular; ovules numerous, axile; style filiform, with a lobulate stigma
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, 3-locular
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Seeds with a thick hard testa and straight embryo in copious endosperm
[NTK]
Every, J.L.R. & Baracat, A. (2009). Neotropical Musaceae.
- Morphology
-
Description
Large to giant suckering, glabrous herbs with sympodial rhizomes, short-thick underground stem ( corm ), erect pseudostems formed by overlapping leaf sheaths. Leaves alternate , spirally arranged, simple , with course tubular sheath , petiole long (sometimes absent), margins entire (often split due to wind action), lanceolate or oblong , midrib distinct, venation closely set, parallel with slightly sigmoid lateral veins fusing near margins. Inflorescence terminal , indeterminate, massive, pendent, sometimes erect , extensive thyrse with large distichous or spiraling, purple, spatheaceous, boat-shaped, deciduous bracts, enclosing a cincinnus (a dense monochasial cyme ). Flowers unisexual and monoecious , zygomorphic , rarely bisexual in proximal part of inflorescence ; basal flowers pistillate, apical flowers staminate, tepals 6, petaloid , outer ones and the inner 2 are fused into a 3-5- lobed tube, split on one side, inner tepal free , small, simple , scale-like, directed downwards, subtended by hyaline , recurved bracts; stamens 5 or 6 with one staminodial, alternating with perianth , filaments free from each other and perianth , filiform , anthers basifixed, opening via longitudinal slits; ovary inferior, syncarpous, carpels 3, 3-locular, style 1, filiform , ovules numerous, septal nectaries present. Fruit a baccate , mostly indehiscent , oblong or cylindrical (banana-shaped) leathery, red-yellow, easily split longitudinally. Seeds usually absent in Neotropical plants, c.9mm 5-15 mm in diam. when present, surrounded by a starchy, sweetish pulp derived from placental trichomes.
- General Description
-
Notes on delimitation
- Has been broadly circumscribed in the past to include Strelitzia Aiton, Ravenala Adans., Phenakospermum Endl., Heliconia L. and often also Orchidantha N. E. Br.
- Currently treated as a family containing the genera Musa L. and Ensete Horan. (APG 2, 2003).
- In the pantropical order Zingiberales as part of the bananas alongside the gingers i.e. Cannaceae, Costaceae, Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae.
- One Musa (30-50 species).
- One non-Neotropical Ensete (c.6 species).
- Musaceae provide bananas Musa ×sapientum L. and plantains Musa ×paradisiacal L.
- Inflorescenceerect and self-pollinated or pollinated by sunbirds in SE Asia (hummingbirds in the Neotropics) or bat-pollinated and functional for only one night.
- Inflorescence represents the aerial stem.
- From multiple origins in SE Asia from where they have been spread by man.
- Cultivated throughout the Neotropics preferring lowland forest.
- Distribution
-
Distribution in the Neotropics
- Often growing in dense stands in humid, lowland forest.
- Frequently cultivated as a food crop.
- Diagnostic
-
Distinguishing characters (always present)
- Large habit.
- Enormous inflorescence and infructescence usually weighed down by flowers or fruit.
- Unisexual flowers - basal flowers female, apical male.
- 6 petaloid tepals.
- Ovary inferior.
- Fruit a banana.
- Massive leaves frequently torn by the wind.
- Purple, boat-shaped, caducous bracts.
- Stamens 5 (-6) the 6th one mostly staminodial.
- Unisexual flowers vs. bisexual in Strelitziaceae and Heliconiaceae.
- Many ovules per locule vs. one ovule per locule in Heliconiaceae.
- Leaves spiral and fruit exarillate vs. leaves distichous and fruit arillate in Strelitziaceae.
- Torn leaves may appear superficially palm-like, however members of Arecaceae have truly pinnate or palmate leaves and a superiorovary.
- Literature
-
Important literature
Andersson, L. 1998. Musaceae. In: K. Kubitzki (Ed.), the families and genera of vascular plants 4:226-30. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
APG 2. 2003. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 141. pp. 399-436.
Dahlgren, R.M.T., Clifford & H.T., Yeo, P.F. 1985. The Families of the Monocotyledons: Structure, Evolution and Taxonomy. pp 356-358. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, New York and Tokyo.
Kress, W. 1990. The phylogeny and classification of the Zingiberales. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 77:4. pp. 698-721.
Kress, W. J., Prince, L. M., Hahn, W. J. & Zimmer, E. A. 2001. Unravelling the evolutionary radiation of the families of the Zingiberales using morphological and molecular evidence. Systematic Biology 50:6 pp. 926-944.
Maas, P. J. M. & Westra, L. Y. Th. 2005. Neotropical Plant Families. 3rd ed. p. 99. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell.
Seberg,O. 2007. In: V.H. Heywood, R.K. Brummitt, A. Culham & O. Seberg (eds). Flowering plant families of the world, p. 382-3. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Stevens, P. F. 2008. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9 onwards. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/.
Stevenson, D. W. & Stevenson, J. W. 2004. Musaceae. In: Smith, N., Mori, S. A., Henderson, A., Stevenson, D. W. and Heald, S. V. (eds.). Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. pp. 462-3. The New York Botanical Garden, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Watson, L. and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 14th December 2000. http://delta-intkey.com
Yatskievych, K. 2001. In: Steyermark, J. A., Berry, P. E., Yatskievych, K. & Holst, B. K. (eds). Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. Volume. 6 Liliaceae-Myrsinaceae. pp 731-3. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
[FTEA]
Musaceae, J.M.Lock. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1993
- Morphology General Habit
- Giant herbs from a branched or unbranched corm-like rootstock
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves arising from the apex of the corm, spirally arranged, very large; leaf-sheaths elongated, densely imbricate and forming a cylindrical pseudostem; lamina oblong, with a strongly channelled midrib and very many pinnately-arranged parallel lateral veins
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Inflorescence terminal on the corm, growing up through the centre of the pseudostem and thus appearing to arise from its apex
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers unisexual, those on the proximal parts of the inflorescence ?, on the distal ?, borne in condensed groups subtended by spathaceous bracts
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx spathaceous, splitting down one side, with ± 3 teeth at the apex
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla lobes 3, 2 of them adnate to the calyx-tube, the third separate and directed downwards
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium
- Stamens 6, but one usually rudimentary; filaments terete, thin; anthers dithecous with parallel thecae
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, 3-locular; placentation axile; ovules many
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit a large elongated fleshy 3-locular berry containing, in the wild species, numerous very hard subspherical seeds containing a straight embryo and copious endosperm
Musaceae Juss. appears in other Kew resources:
First published in Gen. Pl. [Jussieu] 61. 1789 [4 Aug 1789] (1789)
Accepted by
- APG IV (2016) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/boj.12385
-
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
-
Neotropikey
Milliken, W., Klitgard, B. and Baracat, A. (2009 onwards), Neotropikey - Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0