.

Cultivars of Ensete ventricosum available in the UK

Ensete ventricosum 'Atropurpureum'
Ensete ventricosum 'Green Stripe'
Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'
Ensete ventricosum 'Montbeliardii'
Ensete ventricosum 'Tandarra Red'
Ensete ventricosum 'Red Stripe'
Ensete ventricosum 'Rubra'
Musa maurelii
Musa '
Santa Morellii'
Musa
‘Tandarra Red’
Musa ensete 'rubra'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Atropurpureum'


Ensete ventricosum 'Atropurpureum'  -  an invalid name sometimes applied to Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'.

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Green Stripe'


Ensete ventricosum
'Green Stripe'  -  A trade name used briefly by Stokes Tropicals in the USA for all-green seedlings of Ensete ventricosum. However, it was later found that the seedlings lost their distinctiveness and developed a red petiole & midrib when grown under higher light intensity.

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'


Ensete ventricosum
'Maurelii'

Accepted name Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'
Synonyms Ensete ventricosum 'Atropurpureum'
Ensete
'Tandarra Red'
Musa ensete 'rubra'
Musa maurelii
Musa
Santa Morellii
Musa
‘Tandarra Red’
Authorities The accepted name is inferred from Bois 1930, see comments below.
Distribution Ethiopia.
Description Plant short and usually rather squat. Leaves about twice as long as broad, not held upright, young leaves shaded chocolate-red underneath, darker red at the midrib and dark green above with a red mibrib and suffused with chocolate-red at the edges, colours less intense in older leaves and at high temperatures, pseudostem dark red.
References Bois 1930, Cufodontis 1972: 1593, Courtwright 1988: (illus. but ? identity), De Scey-Montbeliard de Brun 1934, Graf Tropica (illus.), Griffiths 1994, Huxley 1992, Moore 1957, NBGB.
Comments The name 'Maurelii' derives from Musa sp. var. Maureli D. Bois. Bois named the plant in commemoration of J. Maurel who first drew to the attention of the French authorities in Ethiopia the red-leaved "bananas" of that place.

Moore 1957 describes this plant under the name "Musa Maurelii" which may have been interpreted by some as raising it to species status. However, this was not Moore's intention and he states specifically that the binomial "Musa Maurelii" has no proper botanical standing under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Some nurserymen do however regard 'Maurelii' as a distinct species of Musa or Ensete and it is interesting to note that Bois himself was rather unsure as to what the plant before him actually was. In his 1930 paper, Bois named two "red-leaved bananas". The first plant he readily recognised as a form of Musa ensete that he named var. Montbeliardi, which, formalised by Cufodontis 1972, is now understood to be a form of Ensete ventricosum. The second plant was so different in habit to the first that Bois doubted that it was Musa ensete but instead a form of an unknown Musa.

Although Bois was not able precisely to identify the second plant it is possible from the context of the "discovery" of the plants by Maurel and from Bois' paper to deduce i) that both plants are Ensete ventricosum (it is now known that there are no African Musa and no other species of Ensete occurs in Ethiopia) and ii) that both are cultivated varieties (cultivars) and not naturally occurring varieties growing and reproducing themselves in the "wild".

The physical difference between 'Maurelii' and 'Montbeliardii' is indeed striking, 'Maurelii' short and squat, 'Montbeliardii' tall and elegant, but this simply reflects the polymorphic nature of Ensete ventricosum. That the plants are cultivated forms and not wild forms means that the names given by Bois should properly have cultivar status and be written e.g. 'Maurelii' and not maurelii. Finally, to accord with modern practise under the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants, cultivar names commemorating a person should (in this case) end in "ii".

Both 'Maurelii' and 'Montbeliardii' were introduced into the U.S.A. in the 1950's by David Barry Jr. and released through his California Jungle Gardens in Los Angeles (see Moore 1957). 'Maurelii' is widely available and 'Montbeliardii' has recently been re-introduced into cultivation.

'Maurelii' is sometimes offered commercially as 'Atropurpureum', 'rubra' and 'Tandarra Red'.  The first two are invalid names.  'Tandarra Red' is acknowledged by Terra Nova (who originated it?) to be "very similar" to 'Maurelii' and it is not at all clear how it is supposed to be distinct.  The fundamental requirements of any new cultivar is that it should be "distinct, uniform and stable".  It seems that 'Tandarra Red' falls at the first hurdle.

Images:

There are 3 images of Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' and links to 2 external images.

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Montbeliardii'


Ensete ventricosum
'Montbeliardii'

Accepted name Ensete ventricosum 'Montbeliardii'
Synonyms none known.
Authorities The accepted name is derived from Bois 1930.
Distribution Ethiopia
Description Plant tall and rather elegant. Leaves 4 or more times as long as broad and held rather upright, shaded dark red beneath, almost black at the midrib, pseudostem dark red almost black.
References Bois 1930, Cufodontis 1972, De Scey-Montbeliard de Brun 1934, Graf Exotica, Graf Tropica (illus.), Griffiths 1994, Huxley 1992, Moore 1957, Zeven & Zhukovsky 1975 citing Smeds,
Comments The name 'Montbeliardii' derives from Musa Ensete J. F. Gmelin var. Montbeliardi D. Bois. Bois named the plant in commemoration of the Marquis de Scey-Montbeliard de Brun who had supplied him with the plant after J. Maurel had first drawn attention to the red-leaved "bananas" of Ethiopia.

Unlike its "sister" 'Maurelii' (see above), Bois had no difficulty assigning this plant to Musa ensete, calling it var. Montbeliardi (sic). Musa ensete is now reduced under Ensete ventricosum and this was formalised for var. Montbeliardii by Cufodontis 1972 who treats the plant as a botanical variety like Bois.  However, from the context of the "discovery" of the plants by Maurel and from Bois' paper it is possible to deduce that this plant is a cultivated variety (cultivar) and not a naturally occurring variety growing and reproducing itself in the "wild". That the plant is a cultivated form and not a wild form means that the name given by Bois should properly have been accorded cultivar status by Cufodontis and written as 'Montbeliardii' and not var. Montbeliardii. Finally, to accord with modern practise under the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants, cultivar names commemorating a person should (in this case) end in "ii".

I have not been able to trace a reference to this plant being cultivated in Europe before 2003 (see below) but 'Montbeliardii' was introduced into the USA sometime before 1957 by David Barry Jr. of California Jungle Gardens, 11977 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. With a street address like that it is not surprising that this interesting nursery has long since been sold for building land and an office block now occupies the site. Barry supplied a plant of 'Montbeliardii' to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania and a photograph of the plant there taken by Steven A. Ruzinsky appears on page 668 of Alfred Byrd Graf's Tropica edition 3 (more here).

Longwood no longer have the plant and, as far as I know, Graf's reproduction of Dr. Ruzinsky's photograph is the only published record of 'Montbeliardii' in cultivation. There are various references to 'Montbeliardii' in the literature, as recent as 1992 in the New RHS Dictionary of Gardening, but these seem merely to be repetitions of previous literature and not evidence of the plant in cultivation. Presumably Barry must have distributed plants to other gardens but 'Montbeliardii' appears to have vanished from cultivation in the USA. My appeals for information on the Internet and enquiries to botanical gardens in the USA have failed to locate a plant derived from the original introduction.

'Montbeliardii' was re-introduced in 2003 by the UK nursery KobaKoba.

It is not possible directly to link the material re-introduced by KobaKoba to the 'Montbeliardii' previously cultivated by California Jungle Gardens. So, why use the name? KobaKoba thought long and hard about how to name this plant and consulted with others. Eventually it was decided that it was best to revive the name 'Montbeliardii' rather than encumber the literature with a new name. The plant introduced by KobaKoba is more than a fair match both for Bois' original description of 'Montbeliardii', "trunk, petiole and mid-rib dark red purple, underside of adult leaf lamina tinged red-purple", and for Graf's photograph which shows a tall, slender and distinctly elegant plant. Herbarium material has been deposited with the RHS. 'Montbeliardii' is quite different from its twin sister 'Maurelii'. As beautiful as it is, 'Maurelii' is a rather squat plant, growing as wide as it does tall. 'Montbeliardii' on the other hand, while not quite as brightly coloured as 'Maurelii' especially as a young plant, shoots skyward like a purple fountain.

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Tandarra Red'


Ensete ventricosum
'Tandarra Red'  -  a name applied to a cultivar derived and very difficult to distinguish from Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Red Stripe'


Ensete ventricosum
'Red Stripe'  -  A cultivar name used for example by Stokes Tropicals in the USA and by Will Giles in the UK for seedlings of Ensete ventricosum with a red mibrib.  Since almost all provenances of Ensete ventricosum have red midribs it seems clear that this name is not useful.   The fundamental requirements of any new cultivar is that it should be "distinct, uniform and stable".  It seems that 'Red Stripe' falls at the first hurdle.  cf. Ensete ventricosum 'Green Stripe'.

top
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ensete ventricosum 'Rubra'


Ensete ventricosum
'Rubra'  -  an invalid name sometimes applied to Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musa 'Santa Morellii'


Musa
'Santa Morellii'  -  an invalid name sometimes applied to Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musa maurelii  


Musa maurelii
 -  an invalid name sometimes supplied to Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musa ‘Tandarra Red’


Musa
‘Tandarra Red’  -  an invalid name sometimes applied to a plant that seems practically indistinguishable from Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'.

top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musa ensete 'rubra' 


Musa ensete
'rubra' (sic)  -  an invalid name sometimes applied e.g. by Architectural Plants to Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

top