''Ensete'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

monocarpic Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (', "single" + , "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning are '' hapaxanth'' ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset ('' E. ventricosum''), an economically important food crop in Ethiopia.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Ensete'' was first described by

Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

(or Horaninov, 1796–1865) in his '' Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum'' of 1862 in which he created a single species, ''Ensete edule''. However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the ''

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

'' on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species. Taxonomically, the genus ''Ensete'' has shrunk since Cheesman revived the

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : 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 name and ...

. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. Recently the number has increased to seven as the Flora of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has, not entirely convincingly, reinstated ''Ensete wilsonii''. There is one species in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, somewhat resembling ''E. superbum'', that has not been formally described, and possibly other Asian species. It is possible to separate ''Ensete'' into its African and Asian species. ;Africa :'' Ensete gilletii'' synonym '' Ensete livingstonianum'' - native range W. Tropical Africa to Malawi :'' Ensete homblei'' - native range is SE. DR Congo to N. Zambia :'' Ensete perrieri'' – endemic to

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but intriguingly like the Asian ''E. glaucum'' :''

Ensete ventricosum ''Ensete ventricosum'', commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of the plant is ...

'' – enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia ;Asia :'' Ensete glaucum'' – widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea :'' Ensete superbum'' – Western Ghats of India :'' Ensete wilsonii'' –

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, China, but doubtfully distinct from ''E. glaucum'' :''Ensete'' sp. "Thailand" – possibly a new species or a disjunct population of ''E. superbum''

Extinct species

''Ensete oregonense'' Clarno Formation, Oregon, United States,

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Notes

Relevant literature

* Borrell, James S., Mark Goodwin, Guy Blomme, Kim Jacobsen, Abebe M. Wendawek, Dawd Gashu, Ermias Lulekal, Zemede Asfaw, Sebsebe Demissew, and Paul Wilkin. "Enset‐based agricultural systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review of production trends, agronomy, processing and the wider food security applications of a neglected banana relative." ''Plants, People, Planet'' 2, no. 3 (2020): 212-228.

External links

* (1999)
IPNI Listing
(UNEUE)

(UNEUE)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
– The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia.

– Holes in the Safety Net
"A study on Esset as a means of existence, social organization and ethnical identification for the Gurage people"
Master's thesis, University of Tromsø (2009)
Kew Plant List
{{Authority control Ensete, Crops originating from Ethiopia Flora of the Indomalayan realm Musaceae Root vegetables Staple foods Tropical fruit Tropical agriculture Zingiberales genera no:Bananfamilien

Taxonomy

Extinct species

See also

Notes

Relevant literature

External links