Musa mensaria

Musa mensaria

Musa mensaria G. E. Rumphius, Herbarium Amboinense 5: 131 (1750).
Musa x paradisiaca var. mensaria J. G. A. Forster, De Plantis Esculentis Insulam Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica: 32 (1786).
Musa mensaria C. Moench, Methodus: 647 (1794).
Musa x paradisiaca var. mensaria (Rumph.) E. A. J. De Wildeman, Annales du Musée Colonial de Marseille 10: 286 - 362. (1912).

Musa mensaria G. E. Rumphius, Herbarium Amboinense 5: 131 (1750).

Accepted name	Musa (AAA group) 'Gros Michel'
Synonyms	possibly Musa acuminata L. A. Colla, Memoria della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 25 : 384 (1820). [Memoria sul genere Musa e monografia del Medesimo 66 (1820).] and E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 3 (1): 22 (1948).
Authorities	Champion. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons lists Musa x mensaria Moench, Methodus: 647 (1794), Musa x sapientum var. mensaria (Moench) Baker, Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 7: 212 (1893), and Musa x paradisiaca var. mensaria (Moench) K.Schum. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 45: 20 (1900) as synonyms and Musa x paradisiaca L., Sp. Pl.: 1043 (1753) as the accepted name.
Section
Distribution
Description	From RHS 1956: Fruit apple-shaped.
References	Anon 1906 : 22, Baker 1893 : 212, Champion 1967 : 41, Desvaux 1814, RHS 1956.
Comments	Musa mensaria or Pissang Medji is number 6 in a list of 16 types of domesticated (cultivated) bananas listed by the pre-Linnean Rumphius under the general heading Musa domestica. See Musa domestica. Quoted in RHS Dictionary (2nd edition, 1956) as a 'variety' of Musa paradisiaca subsp. sapientum that had previously been described as a species. Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus entry for bananas is at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31753003370076

Musa x paradisiaca var. mensaria J. G. A. Forster, De Plantis Esculentis Insulam Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica: 32 (1786).

Accepted name	Musa (AAA group) 'Gros Michel'
Synonyms	possibly Musa acuminata L. A. Colla, Memoria della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 25 : 384 (1820). [Memoria sul genere Musa e monografia del Medesimo 66 (1820).] and E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 3 (1): 22 (1948).
Authorities
Section
Distribution
Description
References
Comments	Georg Forster is not a major author in the Musaceae but, until his mention here, he has been a neglected one. Forster did little more than name 13 of the 16 bananas listed by Rumphius under the general heading Musa domestica; Rumphius gave binomial names to three of them himself including Musa mensaria. However, Forster was the first post-Linnean author to assign names to Rumphius' bananas and has some small significance as a result. Forster published the name as Musa lunaris but the use of the binomial does not mean that he thought the plant was a true species. In fact Forster treated all 16 bananas as "varieties" of Linnaeus' Musa paradisiaca. Forster's Musa mensaria is at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jZD_aFFQYbAC&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_toc_s&cad=1#PPA109,M1

Accepted name	Musa (AAA group) 'Gros Michel'
Synonyms	possibly Musa acuminata L. A. Colla, Memoria della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 25 : 384 (1820). [Memoria sul genere Musa e monografia del Medesimo 66 (1820).] and E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 3 (1): 22 (1948).
Authorities	The World Checklist of Monocotyledons lists Musa x mensaria Moench, Methodus: 647 (1794) as a synonym of Musa x sapientum var. mensaria (Moench) Baker, Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 7: 212 (1893), Musa x paradisiaca var. mensaria (Moench) K.Schum. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 45: 20 (1900) and Musa x paradisiaca L., Sp. Pl.: 1043 (1753) which is listed as an accepted name.
Section
Distribution
Description
References
Comments	The post-Linnean Conrad Moench presumably based his plant on Rumphius' but he does not refer to him. Moench appears to bring into synonymy Linnaeus' Musa x paradisiaca. Moench's entry for Musa mensaria is at http://www.botanicus.org/page/449277 & http://www.botanicus.org/page/449278.

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