Musa acuminata sumatrana

Musa acuminata L. A. Colla var. sumatrana (O. Beccari) R. E. Nasution, Memoirs of Tokyo University of Agriculture. 32: 1 - 122 (1991). not seen

Accepted name	Musa acuminata L. A. Colla var. sumatrana (O. Beccari) R. E. Nasution, Memoirs of Tokyo University of Agriculture. 32: 1 - 122 (1991). not seen
Synonyms	Musa sumatrana O. Beccari, Cat. Hort. Flor. II : 4 (date?) cited by Baker 1893.
Authorities	Nasution 1991 (not seen) cited by Pollefys et al 2004.
Section	Eumusa (Musa) 1
Distribution	Sumatra
Description
References	Baker 1893 : 219, Hotta 1989, Nasution 1991 (not seen), Pollefys et al 2004.
Comments	This is possibly the most confusing and confused form of Musa acuminata. I have not seen Nasution (1991) but from Pollefys et al 2004 I am unsure whether Nasution treats this as a subspecies or varietas. Hotta (1989) treats this as Musa acuminata subsp. sumatrana but does not give an authority for this. Hotta's entry reads as follows: "subsp. sumatrana (Becc.) = subsp. malaccensis ? - - - M. sumatrana Becc. ex Andre, L'Ill. Hort. 27: 37, pl. 375 (1880); Ridley, Kew Bull. 1926: 90". The name "sumatrana" is one the commonest in ornamental banana horticulture where it is used quite indiscriminately as a species, subspecies, variety and cultivar name. The plants to which the name is applied are extremely attractive foliage plants with with leaves more or less striped adaxially with purple red and more or less suffused with purple red abaxially. I can find no reference to "Cat. Hort. Flor. II : 4" cited by Baker 1893. see Musa sumatrana.