Musa sanguinea Hook.f.

Häkkinen, M. & Väre, H. 2009. Typification of Musa mannii, M. sanguinea and M. x kewensis (Musaceae). Kew Bulletin 64: 559. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-009-9145-z

Conservation

This taxon is very common and its status is assessed as Least Concern (LC) (IUCN 2001).

Morphology General Buds

Male bud lanceolate, 8 – 10 × 2.8 – 3 cm, bracts bright red on both sides, no imbrications, not waxy, lifting 1 – 2 bracts at a time, revolute before falling; male flowers 2 – 3 per bract in 1 row, falling with the bract, compound tepal 3.6 – 3.8 cm long, yellow in colour with 5-toothed orange apex, the central lobes smaller than the outer lobes, free tepal as long as compound tepal, translucent white, oblong, with a short orange acumen, stamens 5, cream, pale yellow style with inserted light green stigma, anthers at the same level, stigma inserted, ovary straight, pale yellow, without pigmentation Female bud lanceolate, 13 – 15 × 3.8 – 4 cm, bracts bright red on both sides, no imbrications, not waxy, lifting several bracts at a time, revolute; basal flowers hermaphrodite, 2 – 3 per bract, 3 – 5 hands, ovary light green 2.5 – 3 cm long, arrangements of ovules in two rows per locule; compound tepal 3.8 – 4 cm long, orange-yellow in colour with 5-toothed orange apex, free tepal as long as compound tepal, translucent white, obtuse, truncate apex, stamens 5, dark brown to black

Morphology General Habit

Plant slender, suckering freely, close to parent plant, 4 – 5 suckers, position vertical; mature pseudostem 1 – 1.2 m high and 4 – 5 cm in diam. at base, in appearance varying with amounts of dead brown sheaths, underlying colour light green with large black blotches, shiny, sap watery

Morphology Leaves

Leaf habit erect, lamina 75 – 85 × 25 – 30 cm, oblong, truncate at the apex, colour of upper surface bright green and lower surface medium green, corrugated, appearance shiny, no wax on either surface, leaf bases asymmetric, both sides rounded, midrib dorsally medium green and ventrally purple, with corrugated lamina

Morphology Leaves Petiole

Petiole 30 – 40 cm long, brown, petiole canal open with margins spreading, petiole bases heavily corrugated and not clasping the pseudostem with sparse black blotches

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit bunch lax, with 3 – 5 hands and 2 – 3 fruits per hand on average, in 1 row, fingers perpendicular to the stalk, individual fruit to 6.5 – 7 cm long, straight, angular, immature fruit peel colour light green, becoming pale yellow variegated with red at maturity; seeds black, irregularly depressed, to 3 – 4 mm in diameter, 40 – 50 seeds per fruit

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence erect, peduncle 10 – 12 cm long and 2 cm in diameter, velvety with short hairs, red in colour, sterile red bract one, bracts persistent at the opening of the first female flowers

Note

Musa sanguinea Hook. f. was discovered in 1869 by Mann, in the Mahuni forests on the banks of the BooreeDeling River in Upper Assam, India (Hooker 1872). Hooker (1872) diagnosed it from a flowering plant at Kew Gardens in January 1872 and provided an illustration, t. 5975, which is designated here as the lectotype. After the illustration was drawn, parts of the inflorescence and fruits were preserved in liquid (K 32103.000!). This specimen includes a label which indicates that the seeds were collected in Assam.

Type

Icon in Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 98: t. 5975 (1872). (lectotype, designated here).