Musa azizii

Accepted name	Musa azizii Häkkinen, M. Acta Phytotax. Geobot.56 (1): 27 - 31 (2005).
Synonyms
Authorities	Häkkinen 2005. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons lists Musa azizii Häkkinen, M. Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 56: 29 (2005) as an accepted name.
Section	Callimusa
Distribution	Lumut Range area of Sarawak, East Malaysia
Description	Plant suckering freely, clumping close to parent plant, normally 3 - 4 suckers, position vertical. Mature pseudostem slender up to 1.5 m high, diameter at base 5 - 7 cm, underlying colour red purple, appearance shiny, sap watery. Petiole yellow green, with small brown blotches, petiole 55 cm long, petiole canals margins curved inwards with narrow pink-purple to red margins, winged and clasping the pseudostem. Leaf habit semi-erect, lamina 175 cm long, 26 cm wide, colour of upper surface green, lower surface light green, appearance shiny, without wax on either surface, leaf bases asymmetric and both sides pointed, with a slightly corrugated lamina, midrib dorsally green, ventrally yellow. Inflorescence first erect then horizontal, peduncle 8 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, slightly hairy and watery green in colour, first bract sterile usually 1 with narrow and short foliage lamina, 20 cm long, base broadened, pink purple, usually persistent at the opening of the female flowers. Female flowers on basal 2 or 3 nodes 1 - 2 per bract, in a single row, ovary 1.8 cm long, light green, arrangement of ovules in two rows per loculus, compound tepal 2.0 cm long, free tepal oval, 1.2 cm long, style 2.0 cm long persistent. Male bud ovoid, 7.5 cm long, 3.5 cm wide, bracts imbricate, apex obtuse, tinted with light green, dorsally red-purple, with discoloured lines, ventrally whitish, colour fading towards the base, bract scars very prominent on rachis, several bracts lifting at a time, not revolute and persistent, with very few wax [sic] and moderate grooves. Male flowers, 4 - 6 per bract in two rows, watery green, lobes green, falling before the bract, compound tepal 2.2 cm long, light green, without pigmentation, apex little developed, outer lobes ovate, cuspidate, free tepal 1.4 cm long, translucent white, oval nearly rounded, rotundate and simple folding under apex, fertile stamens 5, filaments 0.8 cm long, anthers 1 cm, same level, watery green, sterile pistil as long as stamens, style white in colour, stigma yellow, ovary 3 mm, long arched watery green, without pigmentation. Fruit bunch rather lax, erect with 2 hands and 1 - 2 fruits per hand, fingers pointed upwards, 4 cm long, 5 mm in diameter, pronounced ridged, apex rounded, pedicel 3 mm long, glabrous, immature fruit peel light green, pulp white before maturity, base of style prominent. Seeds 20 - 30 per fruit, depressed obpyriform, very small, similar to seeds of Musa suratii in shape and size. (from Häkkinen 2005)
References	Häkkinen 2005.
Comments	Häkkinen found only one small population presumably in forest as he says that the plant is likely to die when grown in the open. It is very vulnerable to extinction in the wild.