Musa gilletii

Musa gilletii
E. A. J. De Wildeman, Revue des Cultures Coloniales 8: 102 (1901).

Accepted name Ensete livingstonianum (J. Kirk, Journal of the Linnean Society 9: 128 (1867)) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 101 (1947) according to Akoègninou et al (eds.) 2006.
Synonyms 1. Musa religiosa J. Dybowski in Rev. Hort. 72: 262 (1900) and E. A. J. De Wildeman (err. cal.), Ann. Mus. Colon. Mars. ser. 2, 7: 245 (1909) and ser. 2, 10: 352 (1912) (nomen nudum).

2. Musa chevalieri F. Gagnepain, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 55, mém. 8: 87 (1908), and A. Chevalier, Novitates Florae Africanae in Mémoires de la Société Botanique de France 8: 31 - 109 (1908).

3. Musa schweinfurthii sensu Hutchinson & Dalziel in F.W.T.A. ed. 1, 2: 328 (1936) and not of K. M. Schumann & O. Warburg ex K. M. Schumann in A. Engler's Pflanzenr. 4, 45: 14 (1900), ex F. N. Hepper in F.W.T.A. ed. 2, 3: 69 (1968).

4. Ensete gilletii (E. A. J. De Wildeman) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 103 (1947).

Authorities The source for the accepted name is Cheesman 1947a.

Synonyms are from:

1. from Griffiths 1992 and Huxley 1994 (but see Musa religiosa).
2. & 3. from Hepper 1968.
4. from Akoègninou et al (eds.) 2006

The World Checklist of Monocotyledons gives Musa gilletii De Wild., Rev. Cultures Colon. 8: 102 (1900) as a synonym of Ensete gilletii (De Wild.) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2: 103 (1947 publ. 1948) and Ensete livingstonianum (J.Kirk) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2: 101 (1947 publ. 1948) which is listed as an accepted name. See below.

Section
Distribution Africa, from Malawi to Sierra Leone.
Description See Ensete gilletii for a general description of that species.

A description of the type is as follows:

Plant 5 - 8 ft. high, not suckering. Leaves about 5 ft. long. Inflorescence drooping, short. Flowers 5 to 6 in each row. Free petal 3-toothed, nearly ½ in. long. Fruit about 2 in. long. Seeds nine or ten, about 1/3 in. long.

(Fawcett 1913).

References Akoègninou et al (eds.) 2006, Baker & Simmonds 1953: 407, Cheesman 1947a: 103, De Wildeman 1903, De Wildeman 1912, Fawcett 1913: 277, Griffiths 1992, GRIN, Hepper 1968, Lock 1993, Moore 1957: 190, Reynolds 1927, WCM
Comments This was one of a number of African Musa transferred 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. Many of Cheesman's Ensete were eventually reduced to synonyms of E. ventricosum and Lock 1993 suggests E. gilletii may be no more than a subspecies of this plant.

The inclusion of Musa religiosa as synonym of Ensete gilletii in the New RHS Dictionary of Gardening (Huxley 1992) and the Index (Griffiths 1994) is a carry-over of the name from the RHS Dictionary of Gardening (RHS 1956). Baker & Simmonds consider M. religiosa to be nomen nudum but do mention other evidence that makes it clear that it is Ensete gilletii.

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last updated 30/04/2008