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Ensete ventricosum 'Montbeliardii'
Ensete ventricosum (F. M. J. Welwitsch) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 101
(1947) and R. E. D. Baker & N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 8 (3): 405 (1953) with
correction in Kew Bulletin 8 (4): 574 (1953) 'Montbeliardii' (D. Bois, Bulletin du Muséum
National d'Histoire Naturelle ser. 2. 2: 688 (1930) and G. Cufodontis, Bull. Jard. Bot.
Nation. Belg., 42 (3). Suppl. [Enum. Pl. Aethiop. Spermat.]: 1593 (1972).) Hort.
| Accepted name |
Ensete
ventricosum (F. M. J. Welwitsch) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 101 (1947) and
R. E. D. Baker & N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 8 (3): 405 (1953) with correction in Kew
Bulletin 8 (4): 574 (1953) 'Montbeliardii' (D. Bois, Bulletin du Muséum National
d'Histoire Naturelle ser. 2. 2: 688 (1930) and G. Cufodontis, Bull. Jard. Bot. Nation.
Belg., 42 (3). Suppl. [Enum. Pl. Aethiop. Spermat.]: 1593 (1972).) Hort. |
| Synonyms |
none known. |
| Authorities |
Inferred
from Cufodontis 1972. |
| 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,
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', 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 occuring 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".
Both
'Maurelii' and 'Montbeliardii' were introduced into the U.S.A. by David Barry Jr. and
released through his California Jungle Gardens in Los Angeles. It is interesting
that Moore 1957 does not think 'Montbeliardii' merits much attention mentioning it only in
passing in his discussion of "Musa Maurelii". There is a coloured
photograph of 'Montbeliardii' in Graf's Tropica of a plant growing in a greenhouse at
Longwood Gardens which shows it, compared to 'Maurelii' to be an apparently highly
distinctive cultivar; 'Maurelii' short and squat, 'Montbeliardii' tall and elegant.
Some exotic plant nurserymen in the U.K. insist that 'Maurelii' and 'Montbeliardii' are
essentially the same but they are quite wrong. It is possible that the
'Montbeliardii' photographed by Graf is somewhat "stretched" in glasshouse
cultivation at Longwood but it is surely not a stretched 'Maurelii'. Unfortunately
Longwood no longer have the plant in their collection (personal communication) and I (drc)
have been quite unable to locate one anywhere else, commercially or in collections.
In contrast, its sister cultivar 'Maurelii' is still widely available in the U. S. and
Europe. |
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