''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

as well as a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

, originating as the hybrid 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 derived from this species, although some are hybrids wi ...

'' 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 ...

'', cultivated and domesticated by humans very early. Most cultivated

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 ...

s and plantains are

polyploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the biological cell, cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of (Homologous chromosome, homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have Cell nucleus, nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning ...

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

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

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 precisely 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 a ...

of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca''.

Origin

Almost all cultivated plantains and many cultivated bananas are

s of the hybrid between two wild species, ''M. acuminata'' and ''M. balbisiana''. It is believed that

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia is ...

farmers first

domesticated Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of reso ...

''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 two species 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, 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 banana 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 treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

plants were originally classified by

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

of the modern

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 ...

''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 Entomology, entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to document observations about insects directly. Merian was a desce ...

in her book, '' Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium,'' in 1705. ( plate 12). 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'' is a species of banana as well as a cultivar. 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, '' ...

for further information on the naming and classification of cultivars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musa paradisiaca paradisiaca Food plant hybrids