Musa balbisiana, also known simply as plantain, is a wild-type species of banana. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with Musa acuminata.
Description
It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in
coloured red to maroon. The fruit are between blue and green. They are considered inedible because of the seeds they contain.
Taxonomy
It was first scientifically described in 1820 by the Italian botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla.
Distribution
It is native to eastern South Asia, the eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, northern Southeast Asia, and southern China. Introduced populations exist in the wild, far outside its native range.
Uses
It is assumed that wild bananas were cooked and eaten, as farmers would not have developed the cultivated banana otherwise. Seeded Musa balbisiana fruit are called butuhan ('with seeds') in the Philippines,
Genome
Musa balbisiana contributed the B genome to the cultivated banana.
Wang et al., 2019 provides a genome, analysis and functional genomics analysis.[
]
- This review cites this research.
See also
External links
