Cavendish Banana

Appearance

"Musa acuminata" is an evergreen perennial, not a tree. The trunk is made of tightly packed layers of leaf sheaths emerging from completely or partially buried corms.

The inflorescence grows horizontally or obliquely from the trunk. The individual flowers are white to yellowish-white in color and are negatively geotropic. Both male and female flowers are present in a single inflorescence. Female flowers located near the base, and the male flowers located at the tipmost top-shaped bud in between leathery bracts.

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 by 9 cm in size.

The seeds of "Musa acuminata" are around 5 to 6 mm in diameter. 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, around 0.23 cm3. 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.

Naming

"M. acuminata" is one of several banana species cultivated as an ornamental plant, for its striking shape and foliage. In temperate regions it requires protection from winter frosts. The cultivar "M. acuminata" 'Dwarf Cavendish' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit."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 French and "saging matsing" and "saging chonggo", "saging na ligao", and "agutay" in the Filipino. Found in the Philippines. It is a significant maternal ancestor of many modern dessert bananas. It is an attractive subspecies with blue-violet inflorescence and very pale green unripe fruits.
⤷ "Musa acuminata" subsp. "malaccensis" Simmonds
─⟶ = "Musa malaccensis" Ridley
⟶ Found in peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. It is the paternal parent of the latundan banana.
⤷ "Musa acuminata" subsp. "microcarpa" 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" Kiew
⤷ "Musa acuminata" subsp. "zebrina" R. E. Nasution
⟶ Commonly known as blood bananas. 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 grapes. 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 bananas. 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.

Distribution

"Musa acuminata" is native to the biogeographical region of Malesia and most of mainland Indochina.

"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 in 1516.

Habitat

"Musa acuminata" is propagated sexually 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. It rapidly exploits newly disturbed areas, like areas recently subjected to forest fires. It is also considered a 'keystone species' in certain ecosystems, paving the way for greater wildlife diversity once they have established themselves in an area. It is particularly important as a food source for wildlife due to its rapid regeneration.

"Musa acuminata" bears flowers that by their very structure, makes it difficult to self-pollinate. It takes about four months for the flowers to develop in the fruits, with the fruit clusters at the bases ripening sooner than those at the tip.

A large variety of wildlife feeds on the fruits. These include frugivorous bats, birds, squirrels, tree shrews, civets, rats, mice, monkeys, and apes. 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.