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Musa homblei
Musa homblei J. Bequaert ex E. A. J. De Wildeman, Ann. Mus. Colon. Marseille ser.
2, 10: 332 (1912) and Les Bananiers, 51 (1913).
| Accepted name |
Ensete homblei (J. Bequaert
ex E. A. J. De Wildeman) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 103 (1947) and R. E. D. Baker
& N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 8 (3): 405 (1953). |
| Synonyms |
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| Authorities |
The
authority for the accepted name is Cheesman 1947a and Baker & Simmonds 1953. |
| Distribution |
Katanga
(D. R. Congo). |
| Description |
Plant 2½ - 3½ ft. high, not suckering, trunk more or less
swollen at the base. Leaves at the middle of the trunk have, instead of a stalk, a
sheath, about 8 in. long, which in its lower two-thirds is closely applied to the trunk
halfway round it, the upper third bends out horizontally and passes inot the blade of the
leaf, which is about 5 in. long, oblong-lanceolate ; the leaves gradually change in
character upwards, the limb becoming reduced and the sheath relatively longer but less and
less applied to the trunk, passing into bracts. Inflorescence drooping or
horizontal, 5 in. long. Bracts numerous, persistent, longer than the inflorescence.
Flowers at base hermaphrodite, upper male, 1¼ - 3 in. long, generally five or six
in one row, but towards the middle of the stalk with one or two on the outside.
Perianth three-lobed ; free petal shorter, three-toothed, midle toooth long,
mucronate. Fruit about 1½ in.long, 1 in. broad, becoming blackish, pulp scanty,
yellow. Seeds ovoid, black, ¼ in. long, 1/3 in. broad. Katanga. Found only at the base of
the white ant hills. (Fawcett
1913). |
| References |
Baker &
Simmonds 1953: 405, Cheesman 1947a: 103, De Wildeman 1912: 332, Fawcett
1913: 277-278. |
| Comments |
This was one of a number of African Musa
transferrred to Ensete by Cheesman in his 1947 paper reviving the genus Ensete.
It is now recognised that there are no wild Musa native to Africa, only Ensete. The
comment "not suckering" is interesting since there are reports of palnts with 1
- 4 young corms around the mother-corm either as the result of spontaneous suckering or
colonial germination of seeds.
See discussion at Ensete homblei. |
Compiled partly with information from Gerda Rossel.
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