Musa laurentii

Musa laurentii

Musa laurentii E. A. J. De Wildeman, Mission E. Laurent, 1: 371 - 374, t. 130, fig. 61 - 62. (1907) and Pl. Trop. de Grande Culture, 1: 379 (1908).

Accepted name	Ensete ventricosum (F. M. J. Welwitsch) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 101 (1947) and R. E. D. Baker & N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 8 (3): 405 (1953) with correction in Kew Bulletin 8 (4): 574 (1953).
Synonyms	Ensete laurentii (E. A. J. De Wildeman) E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 2 (2): 103 (1947).
Authorities	The source for the accepted name is Baker and Simmonds 1953 as corrected (see below). The synonym is from Cheesman 1947a. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons gives Musa laurentii De Wild., Miss. Ém. Laurent 1: 371 (1907) as a synonym of Ensete laurentii (De Wild.) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2: 103 (1947 publ. 1948) and Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman, Kew Bull. 2: 101 (1947 publ. 1948) which is listed as an accepted name.
Section
Distribution	Stanleyville, Congo.
Description	Leaves with a green midrib. Bracts 14 in. long, 4½ in. broad, elliptical, narrowing towards apex. Perianth three-lobed, 1¼ - 1½ in. long ; free petal rather more than ½ in. long, rounded at apex with awn-like mucro. Flowers 18 - 23 in two rows under each bract, nine to thirteen on the inner row, and nine to ten on the outer row. Fruit 4 - 5 in. long. (Fawcett 1913).
References	Baker & Simmonds 1953: 406, Champion 1967: 41, Cheesman 1947a: 103, De Wildeman 1907: 371-374, De Wildeman 1912, Durand & Durand 1909, Fawcett 1913: 278.
Comments	This was one of a number of African Musa transferred to Ensete by Cheesman in his 1947 paper reviving the genus Ensete. It was later reduced to a synonym of Ensete ventricosum by Baker & Simmonds 1953 as corrected (please refer to R. E. D. Baker & N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 8 (4): 574 (1953)). It is now recognised that there are no wild Musa native to Africa, only Ensete. Type specimen E. & M. Laurent, 15.01.1904, Stanleyville (now Kisangani), Democratic Republic of Congo in Herbarium Bruxelles at Meise. Images: There are four external images of Musa laurentii at the Aluka website http://www.aluka.org.