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Musa acuminata

Common name:	Dwarf Banana	Family:	Musaceae
Author:	Colla.	Botanical references:	200, 266
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - Southern China, India, Malaysia and the Phillipines.
Habitat:	Shaded and moist ravines, marshlands, semi-marshlands and slopes from near sea level to 1200 metres[266].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	M. cavendishii[B,G,P] M. chinensis[B,G,P] M. nana[G] M. sinensis[G] M. zebrina[B,G,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Edible Banana [P,B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	acuminata = tapering gradually to a point
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Zingiberales. Banana family

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 3m. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

Fruit.

Fruit - raw or dried for later use[177]. Sweet[46, 166]. The fruit is up to 12cm long and 2.5cm wide[200].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a sunny sheltered position in a well-drained fertile soil with a pH between 6 and 7.5[200].
This species is able to tolerate light frosts, but it requires a very sheltered position[166]. Another report says that it requires a minimum winter temperature of 10° c and no lower than 18° c when the fruit is ripening[200].
Wild plants are diploid (2n = 22) and bear fruits containing numerous seeds making them inedible. Cultivated plants are triploid (2n = 33) and bear seedless, edible fruits such plants have been called M. acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish' (M. cavendishii Lambert ex Paxton M. chinensis Sweet M. nana Loureiro)[266].

Propagation

Seed - sow the large seed in individual pots in the spring in a warm greenhouse at about 20° c[200]. Grow the seedlings on in a rich soil, giving occasional liquid feeds. Keep the plants in the greenhouse for at least three years before trying them outdoors.
Division of suckers in late spring. Dig up the suckers with care, trying to cause the least disturbance to the main plant. Pot them up and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a greenhouse until they are well established.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Latin and Worldwide Common Names From Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database by M. H. Porcher et. al. 1995 - 2000 Landcare Systems Research Laboratory, Department of Crop Production,Institute of Land and Food Resources, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Musaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[166] Taylor. J. The Milder Garden. Dent 1990
A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[266] Flora of China 1994
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Musa+acuminata
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Musa+acuminata

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