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Musa hookeri
Musa Hookeri G. King MSS
Musa hookeri G. King MSS ex A. M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan, Trees of North Bengal,
135 (1929).
Musa hookeri (G. King ex K. M. Schumann) A. M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan, Trees of North
Bengal, 135 (1929).
Accepted name |
Musa sikkimensis W. S.
Kurz, J. Agric. Hort. Soc. Ind. Part 1. 5 (3): 164 (1877) and N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin
11 (3): 478 (1956). |
Synonyms |
1. Musa sapientum subsp. seminifera form hookeri
G. King MSS ex J. G. Baker, Ann. Bot. 7: 214 (1893) ; E. E. Cheesman Kew Bulletin 3 (3) :
326 (1948).
2. Musa sapientum subsp. seminifera var. hookeri G. King ex K. M.
Schumann in A. Engler, Das Pflanzenreich (1912). |
Authorities |
The authorities for the accepted name are Simmonds 1956 and
Noltie 1994. Synonym 1 is from Simmonds and 2 from Noltie; Hajra &
Verma give none. |
Section |
Eumusa |
Distribution |
Sikkim to around 1667 metres according to Hajra & Verma
and in Middle Hill Forest from 4,500 ft to 6,000 ft (1,370 metres to 1,828 metres)
according to Cowan and Cowan. |
Description |
Musa Hookeri G.
King from Cowan & Cowan (1929); "Stem 10 - 14 ft. high, robust tinged
with red, 14 - 18 inches in diameter. Young leaves and under sides of the midribs of
the old leaves purplish. Seeds few, large, pulp hard, sweetish."
Musa hookeri G. King ex A. M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan from Hajra & Verma
(1996); "Large perennial herbs with branching rhizomes. Pseudostems 3.6 -
4.5 m tall. Fruits compact, few, 4-5cm long. Sikkim, s.l. ; ca. 1667 m. Fl.
& Fr. : March - Sept." |
References |
Baker 1893 : 214, Cheesman 1948f : 327, Cowan & Cowan 1929 : 135, Hajra & Verma 1996 : 135, Simmonds 1956 : 478, Noltie
1994 : 180. |
Comments |
The name Musa hookeri is known from an unpublished
manuscript by Dr G King at Kew which was partially published by Baker in his Synopsis of
the Genera and Species of Museae in 1893. I do not know the date of King's
manuscript but it must have been preceded by Sulpiz Kurz's 1877 account of "The
Banana" in which he listed and partially described Musa sikkimensis.
Baker thought that King's M. hookeri was "probably M.
sikkimensis Kurz" and although Cheesman demurred Simmonds states that it
is "clearly this species". This synonymy is
accepted also by Noltie. The literature is now not entirely consistent however thanks
to Dr B Krishna's frustratingly brief notes in Flora of Sikkim (Hajra & Verma
1996). Dr Krishna not only gives a description for Musa sikkimensis
different from Simmonds and from Noltie but revives the name Musa hookeri and
gives to it a description that seems to match that given by Simmonds and by Noltie to M.
sikkimensis. Since all of these gentlemen have known the plant in the field it
seems necessary to accept their respective positions at face value and admit that is it
currently not possible to reconcile them.
There
is also confusion in the horticultral trade. In 1998 Toby
Spanner introduced seed that was initially and unfortunately offered under the name Musa
hookeri, this being the name under which the Indian seed collector sent it.
Following Noltie this seed has now been re-named as M. sikkimensis but the
name M. hookeri is still in wide circulation for plants derived from Spanner's
seed.
Images:
There are three images of Musa sikkimensis grown from Toby Spanner's seed. |
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