Señorita bananas (also known as Monkoy, Cariñosa, or Cuarenta Dias) are diploid

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 of the banana ''

Musa acuminata ''Musa acuminata'' is a species of banana native to 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 '' Musa balbisia ...

'' originating in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. They are very small stout bananas which, like all bananas belonging to the AA cultivar group, are known for being extraordinarily sweet.

Taxonomy

Señorita bananas are diploid ( AA)

s of the wild seeded banana ''

''. Its accepted name is ''Musa acuminata'' (AA Group) 'Señorita'. In the

it is known as 'Monkoy', 'Sarot-sut', 'Cariños' or 'Cariñosa', 'Arnibal' or 'Inarnibal' in

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

(literally "syrup" in Hiligaynon), and 'Lunsuranon' in Surigao. It is also known as 'Pisang Lampung' in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is also commonly known as the 'Forty day banana' (

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: 'Cuarenta Dias',

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

: 'Pisang Empat Puluh Hari'), a reference to the average amount of time between flowering and bearing fruits of this cultivar.

Description

Señorita bananas are some of the shortest banana cultivars, growing to a height of only with a

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 ...

girth of at height. The pseudostem is green and shiny with a pink-purple underlying color. The leaves are very waxy with petioles that are sometimes bordered with pink-purple to red. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

hangs vertically with red-purple bracts which are yellow or green on the inside surface. Male flowers are colored yellow and are persistent. The plant begins to flower at about 231 days after planting. The time period from flowering to harvesting is 40 days (hence its common name in the Philippines of "'Cuarenta dias''"). The fruits are in length, with a width of . The fruits are straight with a rounded transverse section and a bottle-necked apex. Fruits are light green and turn a light yellow when ripe. The skin is very thin and easily cracks when overripe, they also tend to snap off the stems by themselves when ripe.

Uses

Fruits of the Señorita bananas are not as common as Lacatan and Latundan for dessert bananas in the Philippines, but they are still highly regarded for their exceptionally sweet taste and soft creamy flesh. They are seldom cultivated in large quantities due to their vulnerability to diseases and thus are more commonly found sold in small farmer stalls. They are popular treats for tourists visiting rural areas in the Philippines. They are almost always eaten fresh, as their relative fragility makes it difficult to store or transport them over long distances. They are also rarely processed or used in cooking.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senorita Banana Banana cultivars

Taxonomy

Description

Uses

See also

References