Musa acuminata cerifera

Accepted name	Musa acuminata L. A. Colla var. cerifera (C. A. Backer) R. E. Nasution, Memoirs of Tokyo University of Agriculture. 32: 1 - 122 (1991). not seen
Synonyms	Musa cerifera (C. A. Backer) T. Nakai, Bulletin of the Tokyo Science Museum. No. 22. II: 14 (1948). Musa malaccensis H. N. Ridley forma cerifera C. A. Backer (cited in error ? by Nakai 1948).
Authorities	Nasution 1991 (not seen) cited by Pollefys et al 2004.
Section	Eumusa (Musa) 1
Distribution	Java.
Description
References	Cheesman 1948b : 24, Hotta 1989 : 69, Index Kewensis, Jarret 1987, Nakai 1948 : 9 & 14, Nasution 1991 (not seen), Pollefys et al 2004, Simmonds 1956 : 466.
Comments	This form of Musa acuminata, "affords good white wax melting at 84ºC" (Nakai citing Gorter) and used in Indonesia for making batik cloth. Nakai goes on to say that "this banana is native of Mid-Java, and formerly was cultivated much in the villages south of Bandoeng to get commercial wax. The leaves are so rich of white wax, as by touch one's hand and cloth become as white as he touched white chalk wall." This form has now been separated from Musa acuminata subsp. malaccensis and subsp. zebrina with which it was previously, and confusingly, associated in the literature. See Musa cerifera for more on this. I have not seen Nasution (1991) but from Pollefys et al 2004 I am unsure whether Nasution treats this as a subspecies or varietas.