Musa oleracea

Musa oleracea
E. (D. E.) Vieillard, Ann. Sc. Nat.: 46 (1861).

Accepted name none - an undeterimined cultivated cooking banana.
Synonyms Musa paradisiaca subsp. sapientum
Authorities  
Section  
Distribution New Caledonia.
Description "A flowerless form, with a glaucous violet stem and an elongated thick turnip-like rhizome, which is boiled or roasted like a yam, which it resembles in taste.  New Caledonia.  Native name Poiete."

(Baker 1893).

References Anon 1906 : 22, Baker 1893 : 212, Champion 1967 : 41, RHS 1956 (+ 1st edition Supplement), Sagot 1887b : 287, Uphof 1968, Vieillard 1861.
Comments Baker describes this under Musa sapientum as one of a number of varieties to which Latin binomials had been given.  Although Baker describes it as flowerless, Sagot 1887b states that the plant produces fruits rarely but many suckers.  He mentions also that the corm is eaten and gives its name as 'banane poiété'.   The RHS Dictionary (1956) mentions that its fruit needs cooking.

(B. M. 7802)


 


last revision 23 April 2003