''Musa coccinea'', commonly known as scarlet banana or red-flowering banana, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the banana and plantain

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Musaceae, native to tropical China (in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, Guangxi, and southeastern

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

) and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It is a

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

, placed in section ''Callimusa'' (now including the former section ''Australimusa''), having a diploid

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

number of 2n = 20. The flower cluster is more rounded than in the related species '' M. beccarii''. It is made up of erect spirals of red bracts which enclose tubular yellow flowers. The inedible fruits are orange, only about long, and contain seeds. The species is cultivated for its ornamental value, being grown, for example, along with

heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

s in commercial farms in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. It does not tolerate temperatures below , so in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

zones requires protection during the winter months. In the UK it has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

’s Award of Garden Merit. ''M. coccinea'' is a known host in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

of the red palm mite (''Raoiella indica'').

Taxonomy

''Musa coccinea'' was described by Andrews in 1799. ''M. uranoscopos'' Lour. (an illegitimate name) is often incorrectly given as a synonym. Loureiro's 1790 account is confused. He refers to an illustration in Rumphius' 1747 ''Herbarium Amboinense'', hence this is the type of his name. However, this illustration had previously been used in Linnaeus' description of ''M. troglodytarum'', so ''M. uranoscopos'' Lour. is a superfluous name for ''M. troglodytarum''. Loureiro's description of ''M. coccinea''; however the type rather than the description determines the synonymity, so ''M. uranoscopos'' Lour. is not a synonym of ''M. coccinea''.

References

External links

:Pictures from PlantSystematics.Org
Scarlet banana in flowerCloser view of inflorescences
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2340657 coccinea Plants described in 1799 Flora of China Flora of Vietnam Garden plants Taxa named by Henry Cranke Andrews