''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' is the accepted name for the

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

between ''

Musa acuminata ''Musa acuminata'' is a species of banana native to South Asia, Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are from this species, although some are hybrids with ''Mus ...

'' and ''

Musa balbisiana ''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 t ...

''. Most cultivated

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

s and

plantain Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

s are

triploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s either of this hybrid or of ''M. acuminata'' alone.

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

originally used the name ''M. paradisiaca'' only for plantains or cooking bananas, but the modern usage includes hybrid cultivars used both for cooking and as dessert bananas. Linnaeus's name for dessert bananas, ''Musa sapientum'', is thus a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca''.

Description

Almost all cultivated plantains and many cultivated bananas are

s of ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca''. It is believed that

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

farmers first

domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...

''M. acuminata''. When the cultivated plants spread north-west into areas where ''M. balbisiana'' was native (see map), hybrids between the two species occurred and were then developed further into a wide range of cultivars. Hundreds of cultivars of ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'' are known, possessing characteristics that are highly variable, but broadly intermediate between the ancestral species. They are typically tall when mature. The above-ground part of the plant is a "false stem" or

pseudostem A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrie ...

, consisting of leaves and their fused bases. Each pseudostem can produce a single flowering stem. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots may develop from the base of the plant. Cultivars of ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'' are usually sterile, without seeds or viable pollen.

Taxonomy

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

plants were originally classified by

into two species, which he called ''Musa paradisiaca'' for those used as cooking bananas (

s), and ''M. sapientum'' for those used as dessert bananas. It was later discovered that both of his "species" were actually cultivated varieties of the hybrid between two wild species, '' M. acuminata'' and '' M. balbisiana'', which is now called ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'' L. The

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: *Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) *Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthrop ...

of the modern

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'' thus includes both the original ''M. paradisiaca'' and ''M. sapientum'', the latter being reduced to a

of ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca''. In pre-Linnean times this banana was named '''Musa serapionis''', for instance by

Maria Sybilla Merian Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Meri ...

in her ''

Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some ins ...

'' of 1705. ( plate 12). See also: At one time, to deal with the great diversity of cultivated bananas and plantains, botanists created many other names which are now regarded as synonyms of ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'', such as ''M. corniculata'' Lour., used for a group of plantains with large fruit resembling the horns of a bull. Cultivated varieties are now given cultivar names, with the cultivars classified into groups and subgroups. Thus ''M.'' × ''paradisiaca'' 'Horn' is a cultivar belonging to the AAB genome group, Plantain subgroup. See

List of banana cultivars The following is a list of banana cultivars and the groups into which they are classified. Almost all modern cultivated varieties (cultivars) of edible bananas and plantains are hybrids and polyploids of two wild, seeded banana species, ''Musa ...

for further information on the naming and classification of cultivars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musa paradisiaca paradisiaca Food plant hybrids