Musa rhinozerotis

Musa rhinozerotis

Musa rhinozerotis W. S. Kurz, J. Agric. Hort. Soc. Ind. Part 1. 5 (3): 164. (1877).

Accepted name	Musa (AAA group) 'Dwarf Cavendish' type
Synonyms	Musa acuminata L. A. Colla
Authorities	The synonym is from Hotta 1989. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons lists Musa rhinozerotis Kurz, J. Agric. Soc. India, n.s., 5: 64 (1878) as a synonym of Musa nana Lour., Fl. Cochinch.: 644 (1790) which is listed as an accepted name.
Section
Distribution
Description	Kurz keys out this taxon as follows: Flowering spadix nodding. Plant soboliferous. Spathes convolute, more or less channelled, more or less pruinose outside. All spathes and flower-whorls developed, the sterile ones forming a cone. Seeds variously tuberculed. Spathes all marcescent-persistent. Short-stemmed and exactly like M. nana, but the leaf sheaths all enveloping each other ; flowers all fertile.
References	Anon 1906 : 17, Champion 1967 : 42, Hotta 1989, Kurz 1877 : 164, 165.
Comments	This is one the cultivated types in India identified by Kurz. It is a dwarf AAA group banana that would today be identified as a clone or selection of 'Dwarf Cavendish' of which there are many in India. The WCM gives the accepted name as Musa nana. Musa nana is the earliest valid binomial given to dwarf AAA group bananas but in my opinion it is not taxonomically useful to give it as the accepted name. There are many AAA type bananas that show a continuous and taxonomically irrelevant variation in height. I do not see the point in arbitrarily designating the smallest of these as Musa nana. Hotta mis-spells the name Musa rhinocerotis.